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BY 


THE   REV,  JOHN    FLETCHER. 

T^*  FOUR  VOLUMES. 


-^^&«- 


VOLUME  iV. 


CONTAINING, 


I.  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY'S  SCHEME 

OF   CHRISTIAN   AND  PHILOSOPHI- 
CAL  NECESSITY. 

II.  AN  ANSWER  TO  THE  REV.    MR.  TOP- 

LADY'S  VINDICATION  OF  THE  DE- 
CREES, j^ 


THE  LAST  CHECK  TO  ANTINOMf 
ANISM  ;  OR,  A  POLEMICAL  ESSAY 
ON  THE  TWIN  DOCTRINES  OF 
CHRISTIAN  IMPERFECTION,  AND 
A  DEATH  PURGATORY. 


THIRD  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

— •ooo— 

BUBLI^HED    BY  J.  SOULE   AND   T.    MASON,   FOR   THE    METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL   CHURCH  IN    THE    UNITED   STATES. 


Abraham  Paul,  Priiittr. 


1820. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  IV. 

-^Vi^VSj- 

t.       REMARKS    ON    MR.    T0PL.ADY'S    SCHEME    OP 
CHRISTIAN    AND    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY. 

Page 

Sect.  I.  A  View  of  Mr.  Toplady's  Scheme  :— It  represents  God  as  the  first 

Cause  of  all  Sin  and  Damnation • ^ 

II.  His  Error  is  overthrown  by  fourteen  Arguments 18 

III.  Twelve  Keys  to  open  the  passages  of  Scripture  on  which  he  founds 

his  Scheme 31 

IV.  The  capital  Objections  of  the  Necessitarians  to  the  Doctrine  of 

Liberty  answered , 51 

V.  The  Doctrine  of  Necessity  is  the  capital  Error  of  the  Calvinists, 

and  the  foundation  of  the  most  wretched  Schemes  of  Philosophy 
and  Divinity 58 

II.       ANSWER  TO    MR.  TOPLADY'S    VINDICATION 
OF    THE    DECREES. 

iNTRODtrCTION 65 

Sbct.  I.  The  Calvinian  Scheme  evidently  implies  that  some  Men  shall  be 

saved,  do  what  they  will ;  and  others  damned,  do  what  they  can     67 
II.  Calvinism  upon  its  Legs  :  or,  a  full  View  of  the  Arguments  by 
which  Mr.   Toplady  attempts   to  reconcile   Calvinism   with 
God's  Holiness. 71 

III.  Mr,  Toplady  appeals  in  vain  to  Scripture  and  Reason  to  support 

the  Absoluteness  and  Holiness  of  the  Calvinian  Decrees 82 

IV.  Calvinian  Reprobation  cannot  be  reconciled  with  Divine  Justice     86 
V.  Much  less  can  it  be  reconciled  with  Divine  Mercy lOO 

VI.  A  View  of  the  Manner  in  which  Mr.  Toplady  attempts  to  prove 

Calvinian  Reprobation  from  the  Scriptures 105 

VII.  The  Arguments  answered  by  which  Mr.  Toplady  tries  to  recon- 
cile Calvinism  with  a  future  Judgment,  and  Absolute  Necessity 

with  Moral  Agency • 110 

VIII.  Mr.  Toplady's  Arguments  from  God's  Prescience  answered....   123 
IX.  An  Answer  to  the  Charges  of  Robbing  the  Trinity,  and  encourag- 
ing Deism 129 

X.  Mr.  Toplady  attempts  in  vain  to  retort  the  Charge  of  Antinomi- 

anism,  and  to  show  that  Calvinism  is  more  conducive  to  Holi- 
ness than   the  opposite  Doctrine 132 

XI.  A  Caution  against  the  Tenet—"  Whatever  is,  is  righf^ 137 

XII.  Some  Encouragements  for  those  who,  from  a  principle  of  Con- 

science, bear  their  Testimony  against  Absolute  Election  and 
Reprobation ...,....., I4fl 


IV  CONTENTS. 

III.       POLEMICAL.   ESSAY. 

Fruface. — Reasons  of  the  title  given  to  this  Tract. — The  Doctrines  of  the 
Heathen,  the  Papists,  and  Calvinists,  concerning  the  Purgation 
of  Souls  from  the  Remains  of  Sin. — The  Purgatory  recom- 
mended in  this  Book 153 

Sect.  I.  The  Doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection  placed  in  a  Scriptural 

Light 159 

II.  Pious  Calvinists  dissent  from  us  chiefly  because  they  confound 
the  Law  of  Innocence,  and  Law  of  Liberty,  or  Adamic  and 
Christian  Perfection 166 

III.  Objections  against  this  Doctrine  solved  merely  by  considering 

the  Nature  of  Christian  Perfection 171 

IV.  The  Ninth  and  Fifteenth   Articles  of  our  Church,  properly 

understood,  are  not  agsdnst  the  Doctrine  of  Christian  Perfec- 
tion.    That  our  Church  holds  it,  is    proved    by    thirteen 

Arguments 178 

V.  St.  Peter  and  St.  James  declare  for  Christian  Perfection 191 

VI.  St.  Paul  preached  Christian  Perfection,  and  professed  to  have 

attained  it 197 

VI!.  St.  Paul  was  not  carnal,  and  sold  under  Sin. — The  true  Meaning- 

of  Gal.  V.  17.  and  of  Rom.  vii.  14 207 

yill.  An  Answer  to  the  Arguments  by  which  St.  PauPs  supposed 

Carnality  is  generally  defended. 220 

IX.  St.  Paul  presents  us  with  a  striking  Picture  of  a  Perfect  Chris- 
tian, by  occasionally  describing  his  own  Spirituality. 229 

X.  St.  John   is    tor  Christian   Perfection,   and  not   for   a   Death 

Purgatory 236 

XI.  Why  the  Privileges  of  Believers  under  the  Gospel  cannot  be 
justly  measured  by  the  Experience  of  Believers  under  the 

Law  of  Moses i 244 

XII.  A  Variety  of  Arguments  to  prove  the  Absurdity  of  the  Twin 

Doctrines  of  Christian  Imperfection  and  a  Death  Purgatory . .  250 
Xin.  A  Variety  of  Arguments  to  prove  the  Mischievoiisness  of  the 

Doctrine  of  Christian  Imperfection 260 

XIV.  The  Arguments  answered  by  whirh  the  Imperfectionists  support 

the  Doctrine  of  the  necessary  indwelling  of  Sin  till  Death. . . .  268 
XV.  The  Doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection  is  truly  Evangelical. — 
A  Recapitulation  of  the  Scripture  Proofs  whereby  it  is  main- 
tained   287 

XVI.  The  Distinction  between  Sins  and  Infirmities   is  truly  Scrip- 
tural.— An  Answer  to  Mr.  Henry's  grand  Argument  for  the 

Continuance  of  indwelling  Sin 296 

XVII.  An  Address  to  perfect  Christian  Pharisees 309 

XVIII.  To  prejudiced  Imperfectionists. 316 

XIX.  To  imperfect  Believers,  who  embrace  the  Doctrine  of  Christian 

Perfection 329 

XX.  Address  to  Perfect  Christians »,,oct.., 366^ 


TO  THB 

PRINCIPAL  ARGUMENTS 

BT  WHICH 
SUPPORT    THE    DOCTRINE    OF 

ABSOLUTE  NECESSITY: 

BEING 

REMARKS 

ON 

THE  REV.  MR.  TOPLADY'S 

«  SCHEME  OF  CHRISTIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHICAL  NECESSITY.'' 

JteTxart  test  any  man  spoil  you  throvgh  Philosophy  and  vain  Deceit. 

Col.  ii.  ? 


asr?Ka®2)iKg5m©sr. 


jyiR.  Voltaire,  at  the  head  of  the  Deists  abroad  ;  President  Edwards 
and  Mr.  Toplady,  at  the  head  of  the  Calvinists  in  America  and  Great 
Britain;  and  Dr.  Hartley,  seconded  by  Dr.  Priestley  and  Mr.  Hume, 
at  the  head  of  many  ingenious  philosophers ;  have  of  late  years 
joined  their  literary  forces  to  bind  man  with  what  Mr.  Toplady  calls 
*^  Ineluctabilis  ordo  rerum^' — or  ^^  the  extensive  series  of  adamantine 
linksy'  which  form  the  chain  of  "  absolute  necessity  :" — An  invisible 
chain  this,  by  which,  if  their  scheme  be  true,  God  and  Nature  irre- 
sistibly bind  upon  us  all  our  thoughts  and  actions ;  so  that  no  good 
man  can  absolutely  think  or  do  worse — no  wicked  man  can  at  any  time 
think  or  do  better — than  he  does,  each  exactly  filling  up  the  measure 
of  unavoidable  virtue  or  vice,  which  God,  as  the  first  cause  or  the 
predestinating  and  necessitating  author  of  all  things,  has  allotted  to 
him  from  all  eternity. 

Mr.  Toplady  triumphs  in  seeing  the  rapid  progress  which  this  doc- 
trine makes  by  the  help  of  the  above-mentioned  authors,  who  shine 
with  distinguished  lustre  in  the  learned  world.  "  Mr.  Wesley,"  says 
he,  '*  laments  that  Necessity  is  *  The  scheme,  which  is  now  adopted 
by  not  a  few  of  the  most  sensible  men  in  the  nation.'  I  agree  with 
him  as  to  the  fact.  But  I  cannot  deplore  it  as  a  calamity.  The  pro- 
gress which  that  doctrine  has  of  late  years  made,  and  is  still  making 
in  the  kingdom,  I  consider  as  a  most  happy  and  promising  symp- 
tom, &:c." 

1  flatter  myself  that  I  shall  by  and  by  show,  upon  theological  prin- 
ciples, the  mischievous  absurdity  of  that  spreading  doctrine,  in  an 
Answer  to  Mr.  Toplady's  Vindication  of  the  Decrees.  But,  as  he  has 
lately  published  a  book  entitled,  "  The  Scheme  of  Christian  and  Philo- 
sophical Necessity  asserted,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  J.  Wesley's  Tract  on  that 
Subject;'''  and  as  he  has  advanced  in  that  book  some  argument*  taken 


via  INTRODUCTION. 

from  Philosophy  and  Scripture,  I  shall  now  take  notice  of  them To 

defend  truth  effectually,  error  mast  be  entirely  demolished.  There- 
fore, without  any  farther  apology,  I  present  the  lovers  of  truth  with 
the  following  refutation  of  the  grand  error  which  supports  the  Cal- 
vinian  and  Voltairian  Gospels. 


REPLY,  &c 


SECTION  I. 

w3  view  of  the  doctrine  of  Absolute  JVecessity,  as  it  is  maintained  by 
Mr.  Toplady  and  his  adherents. — This  doctrine  {as  well  as  Manichc- 
ism)  makes  God  the  author  of  every  sin. 

OoNTI^OVERTISTS  frequently  accuse  their  opponents  of  holding 
detestable  or  absurd  doctrines  which  they  never  advanced,  and  which 
have  no  necessary  connexion  with  their  principles.  That  I  may  not 
be  guilty  of  so  ungenerous  a  proceeding,  I  shall,  first,  present  the 
reader  with  an  account  of  JVecessity  and  her  pedigree,  in  Mr.  Top- 
lady's  own  words. 

Scheme  of  Christian  and  Philosophical  JVecessity,  page  13,  14,  "  li' 
we  distinguish  accurately,  this  seems  to  have  been  the  order  in  which 
the  most  judicious  of  the  ancients  considered  the  whole  matter: 
First,  God : — ^^then,  his  Will : — then  Fate  ;  or  the  solemn  ratification  of 
his  Will,  by  passing  and  establishing  it  into  an  unchangeable  decree  ; 
— then  Creation: — then  Necessity;  i.  e.  such  an  indissoluble  conca- 
tenation of  secondary  causes  and  effects,  as  has  a  native  tendency  to 
secure  the  certainty  of  all  events,  as  one  -wave  is  impelled  by  another  .-^ 
— then  Providence  ;  i.  e.  the  omnipresent,  omnivigilant,  all-directina; ;" 
[he  might  have  added  all-impelling]  "  superintendency  of  divine  wis- 
dom and  power,  carrying  the  whole  preconcerted  scheme  into  actual 
execution  by  the  subservient  mediation  of  second  causes,  which  were 
created  for  that  end." 

This  is  the  full  view  of  the  doctrine  which  the  Calvinists,  and  the 
better  sort  of  Fatalists,  defend.     I   would  only  ask  a  few  questidnrf 

*  Mr.  T.  puts  this  clause  in  Latin ;  Velut  unda  impdlitur  wirfff. 

Vol.  IV.  t> 


10  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY'S  SCHEME 

upon  it. — 1.  If  all  our  actions,  and  consequently  all  our  sins,  compose 
the  seventh  link  of  the  chain  of  Calvinism  ;— If  the  first  link  is  Gody 
the  second,  his  Will;  the  third,  his  Decree  ;  the  fourth,  Creation  ;  the 
fifth,  Necessity  ;  the  sixth,  Providence  ;  and  the  seventh,  Sin  ;  is  it  not 
as  easy  to  "trace  the  pedigree  of  Sin  through  Providence,  Necessity^ 
Creation,  God's  Decree,  and  God's  Will,  up  to  God  himself ;  as  it  is  to 
trace  back  the  genealogy  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  from  George  III. 
by  George  II.  up  to  George  I.  ?  x4nd  upon  this  plan,  is  it  not  clear 
that  Sin  is  as  much  the  real  offspring  of  God  as  the  Prince  of  Wales 
is  the  real  offspring  of  George  the  First? — 2.  If  this  is  the  case,  does 
not  Calvinism,  or  if  you  please,  Fatalism  or  Necessitarianism,  absolutely 
make  God  the  Author  of  Sin,  by  means  of  his  Will,  his  Decree,  his 
Creation,  his  Necessitation,  his  impelling  Providence  ?  And,  horrible 
to  think  !  does  it  not  unavoidably  follow,  that  the  monster  Sin  is  the 
offspring  of  God's  Providence — -of  God's  Necessitation — of  God's 
Creation — of  God's  Decree — of  God's  Will — of  God  himself? — 3.  If 
this  Manichean  doctrine  be  true,  when  Christ  came  to  destroy  sin, 
did  he  not  come  to  destroy  the  work  of  God  rather  than  the  work  of 
the  devil  ?  And  when  preachers  attack  sin,  do  they  not  attack  God's 
•jprovidence — God's  necessitation — God's  creation — God's  (iecree-r-God's 
isjill — and  God  himself? — 4.  To  do  God  and  his  Oracles  justice,  ought 

we  not  to  give  the  following  scriptural  genealogy  of  sin  ? A  sinful 

act  is  the  offspring  of  a  sinful  choice ; — a  sinful  choice  is  the  offspring  of 
self -perversion ; — and  self- perversion  may  or  7nay  not  follow  fromyVee 
will  put  in  a  state  of  probation,  or  under  a  practicable  law.  When  you 
begin  at  Sin,  you  can  never  ascend  higher  than/ree  rvill :  and  when 
you  begin  at  God,  you  can  never  descend  lower  than/ree  Tsoill:  thus, 
1.  God; — 2.  His  will  to  make  free  willing,  accountable  creatures  ; — 
3.  His  putting  his  will  in  execution  by  the  actual  Creation  of  sucli 
creatures  ; — 4.  Legislation  on  God's  part ; — 5.  Voluntary,  unnecessi- 
tated  obedience,  on  the  part  of  those  who  make  a  good  use  of  their 
free  will ; — And  6.  Voluntary  unnecessitated  disobedience,  on  the  part 
of  those  who  make  a  bad  use  of  it.  Hence  it  is  evident,  that,  by 
substituting  necessity  for  free  will,  and  absolute  decrees  for  righteous 
legislation,  Mr.  Toplady  breaks  the  golden  chain  which  our  gracious 
Creator  made,  and  helps  Manes,  Augustin,  Calvin,  Hobbes,  Voltaire, 
Hume,  Dr.  Hartley,  and  Dr.  Priestley,  to  hammer  out  the  iron-clay 
chain,  by  which  they  hang  sin  upon  God  himself. — 5.  If  all  our  sins^ 
with  all  their  circumstances  and  aggravations,  are  only  a  part  of  "  the 
whole  preconcerted  scheme,'^''  which  "  divine  wisdom  and  power,''"'  abso 
lutely  and  irresistibly  ^'-  carry  into  actual  execution,  by  the  subservient 
mediaiioti  of  second  causes,  which  were  created  for  that  end ;-''  who  can 


OF  PHILOSOPHICAL  NECESSITY,  11 

rahonally  blame  sinners  for  answering  the  end  for  which  they  were 
absolutely  created?  Who  can  refuse  to  exculpate  and  pity  the  repro- 
bates, whom  all-impelling  omnipotence  carries  into  sin,  and  into  hell, 
as  irresistibly  as  a  floating  cork  is  carried  towards  the  shore  by  toss- 
ing billows  which  necessarily  impel  one  another?  And  who  will  not 
be  astonished  at  the  erroneous  notions  which  the  consistent  Fatalists 
have  of  their  God  ? — A  God  this,  who  necessitates,  yea,  impels,  men  to 
sin  by  his  will — his  decree — his  neceseitation — and  his  providence, 
then  gravely  weeps  and  bleeds  over  them  for  sinning  : — and  after 
having  necessitated  and  impelled  the  non-elect  to  disbelieve  and  de- 
spise his  blood,  will  set  up  a  judgment-seat  to  damn  them  for  necessa- 
rily carrying  his  preconcerted  scheme  into  actual  execution,  as  "  second 
causes  which  zvere  created  for  that  end  ?" 

"Oh!  but  they  do  it  voluntarily  as  well  as  necessarily^  and  there- 
fore they  are  accountable  and  judicable." — This  Calvinian  salvo 
makes  a  bad  matter  worse.  For,  if  all  their  sins  are  necessarily 
brought  about  by  God's  all-impelling  decree,  their  zvilling  and  bad 
choice  are  brought  about  by  the  same  preconcerted,  irresistible  means  ; 
one  of  the  ends  of  God's  necessitation,  with  respect  to  the  reprobate, 
being  to  make  them  sin  with  abundantly  greater  freedom  and  choice 
than  if  they  were  not  necessitated  and  impelled  by  God's  predestinating, 
efficacious,  irresistible  decree.  This  Mr.  Toplady  indirectly  asserts 
in  the  following  argument. 

Page  la.  *'  They"  [man's  actions — man''s  sins']  may  be,  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  free  and  necessary  too.  When  Mr.  Wesley  is  very 
hungry  and  tired,  he  is  necessarily,  and  yet  freely,  disposed  to  food 
or  rest.  His  will  is — concerned  in  sitting  down  to  dinner,  or  in  court- 
ing repose,  when  necessity  impels  to  either. — Necessarily  biassed  as  he 
is  to  those  mediums  of  recruit,  he  has  recourse  to  them  as  freely, 
(i.  e.  as  voluntarily,  and  with  as  much  appetite,  choice,  desire,  and 
relish,)  as  if  necessity  were  quite  out  of  the  ca^e  ;  nay,  and  with  abun- 
dantly greater  freedom  and  choice,  than  if  he  was  not  so  necessitated 
and  impelled." 

Is  not  this  as  much  as  to  say,  "  As  necessitation,  the  daughter  of 
God's  decree,  impels  Mr.  Wesley  to  eat,  by  giving  him  an  appetite  to 
food  ;  so  it  formerly  impelled  Adam,  and  now  it  impels  all  the  repro- 
bates, to  sin,  by  giving  them  an  appetite  to  wickedness  :  an3,  necessa- 
rily biassed  as  they  are  to  adultery,  robbery,  and  other  crimes,  they 
commit  them  "  as  freely,  i.  e.  with  as  much  appetite  and  choice,  as  if 
necessity  were  quite  out  of  the  case  :  nay,  and  with  abundantly  greater 
freedom  and  choice,  than  if  they  were  not  so  necessitated  and  im- 
pelled ?'" — Is  not  this  reviving  one  of  the  most  impious  tenets  of  tho 


14  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY's  SCHEME 

Manichees  ? — Is  it  not  confounding  the  LRm,b  of  God  with  the  old 
dragon,  and  coupling  the  celestial  dove  with  the  infernal  serpent  ? 

If  you  ask,  *'  Where  is  the  flaw  of  Mr.  Toplady's  argumentative 
illustration?"  I  answer,  it  has  two  capital  defects  :  1.  That  God's 
wil!,  his  decree,  and  his  providence,  impel  Mr.  Wesley  to  eat  when  he 
is  hungry,  is  very  true  ;  because  eating,  in  such  a  case  is,  in  general, 
Mr.  Wesley's  duty,  and  reminding;  him  cf  his  want  of  nourishment, 
by  the  sensation  which  we  call  hunger,  is  a  peculiar  favour,  worthy 
of  the  Parent  of  good  to  bestow.  But  the  question  is,  whether 
God's  will,  decree,  and  providence  impelled  Adam  to  choose  the  for- 
bidden fruit  rather  than  any  other,  and  excited  David  to  go  to  Uriah's 
wife,  rather  than  to  his  own  wives  ?  How  illogical,  hoAv  detestable  is 
this  conclusion  !  God  iiecessitates  and  impels  us  to  do  our  duty  ;  and 
therefore,  he  necessitates  and  impels  us  to  do  wickedness! — But  2.  The 
greatest  absurdity  belonging  to  Mr.  Toplady's  illustration  is,  his  pre- 
tending to  overthrow  the  doctrine  oi  free  will,  by  urging  the  hunger 
which  God  gives  to  Mr.  Wesley,  in  order  to  necessitate  and  impel  him 
to  eat,  according  to  the  decree  of  Calvinian  necessitation,  which  is 
absolutely  irresistible.  B'Ir.  T.  says,  page  13,  "  We  call  that  necessary , 
■which  cannot  be  other^mse  than  it  is.""  Now  Mr.  Wesley's  eating  when 
he  is  hungry,  is  by  no  means  Calvinistically  necessary  :  for  he  has  a 
hundred  times  reversed  the  decree  of  his  hunger  by  foisting ;  and  if 
he  were  put  to  the  sad  alternative  of  the  woman,  who  was  to  starve,  or 
to  kill  and  eat  her  own  child,  he  both  could  and  would  go  full  against 
the  necessitation  of  his  hunger,  and  never  eat  more.  Mr.  Toplady's 
illustration,  therefore,  far  from  proving  that  God's  necessitation  zVrp- 
^istibly  impels  us  to  commit  sin,  indirectly  demonstrates,  that  God's 
necessitation  does  not  so  much  as  absolutely  impel  us  to  do  those 
things,  which  the  very  laws  of  our  constitution  and  nature  themselves 
bind  upon  us,  by  the  strong  necessity  of  self-preservation.  For  some 
people  have  so  far  resisted  the  urgent  calls  of  nature  and  appetite,  as 
not  only  to  make  themselves  eunuchs  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's 
sake,  but  even  literally  to  starve  themselves  to  death. 

I  once  saw  a  man  who  played  the  most  amazing  tricks  with  a  pack 
of  cards.  His  skill  consisted  in  so  artfully  shuffling  them,  and  imper- 
ceptibly substituting  one  for  another,  that  when  you  thought  you  had 
fairly  secTired  the  king  of  hearts,  you  found  yourself  possessed  only 
of  the  knave  of  clubs.  The  defenders  of  the  doctrine  of  necessity 
are  not  less  skilful.  I  shall  show  in  another  tract,  with  what  subtlety 
Mr.  T.  uses  ^^  permission''^  for  efficacy, — "  no  salvation  due,^^  for 
eternal  torments  ensured; — *'  not  enriching,^^  for  absolute  reprobation ; 
.--and  "  passing  6j/,"  for   (ibsoluiely  appointing  to  remediless  sin,  and 


ON    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY,  13 

^ixerlasti'ng  burnings.  Let  us  now  consider  the  grand,  logical  substi- 
tution, which  deceives  that  gentleman,  and  by  which  he  misleads  the 
admirers  of  his  scheme. 

Page  14.  "I  acquiesce  in  the  old  distinction  ol'  necessity  [a  distinc- 
tion adopted  by  Luther  and  others]  into  a  necessity  of  compulsion^  and 
a  necessity  of  infallible  certainty. — We  say  of  the  earth,  for  instance, 
that  it  circuits  the  sun  by  compulsory  necessity.  The  necessity  of 
infallible  certainty  is  of  a  very  different  kind,  and  only  renders  the 
event  inevitably  future,  without  any  compulsory  force  on  the  will  of 
the  agent." — If  Mr.  T.  had  said,  *'  The  necessity  of  true  prophecy^ 
considers  an  event  as  certainly  future  ;  but  puts  no  Calvinian,  irresist- 
ible bias  on  the  will  of  the  agent ;"  I  would  have  subscribed  to  his 
distinction.  But  instead  of  the  words  truly  certain,  or  certainly  future , 
which  would  have  perfectly  explained  what  may  improperly  be 
called  necessity  of  true  prophecy,  and  what  should  be  called  certain 
futurity;  instead  of  those  words,  I  say,  he  artfully  substitutes,  first 
'^infallibly  certain,'^''  and  then  '"^inevitably  future.''^  The  phrase, 
infallibly  certain,  may  be  admitted  to  pass,  if  you  understand  by  it  that 
which  does  not  fail  to  happen  :  but  if  you  take  it  in  a  rigid  sense,  and 
moan  by  it,  that  which  cannot  absolutely  fail  to  happen,  you  get  a  step 
out  of  the  way,  and  you  may  easily  go  on  shuffling  your  logical  cards 
till  you  have  imposed  Fatalism  upon  the  simple,  by  making  them 
believe,  that  certainly  future,  infallibly  future,  and  inevitably  future, 
are  three  phrases  of  the  same  import ;  whereas  the  difference  between 
the  first  and  the  last  phrase  is  as  great,  as  the  difference  between  Mr. 
Wesley's  scriptural  doctrine  of  free  will,  and  Mr.  T.'s  Manichean 
doctrine  of  absolute  necessity. 

It  is  the  property  of  error  to  be  inconsistent.  Accordingly  we 
find  that  Mr.  T.  at\er  having  told  us  (p.  14.)  that  the  necessity  of 
infallible  certainty,  which  renders  the  event  inevitably  future,  lays  no 
compulsory  force  on  the  will  of  the  agent,  tells  us  in  the  very  same  pac^e 
that  his  Calvinian  necessity  is  "  such  an  indissoluble  concatenation  of 
secondary  causes — [created  for  that  end] — and  of  effects,  as  has  a 
native  tendency  to  secure  the  certainty  of  events''  [i.  e.  of  all  voli- 
tions, murders,  adulteries,  and  incests]  "  sicut  unda  impellitur  unda  •" 
as  one  wave  impels  another — or,  as  the  first  link  of  a  chain  which  you 
pull,  draws  the  second— the  second,  the  third— and  so  on.  Now,  if 
all  our  volitions  are  pushed  forward  by  God  through  the  means  of 

his  absolute  will — his  irresistible  decree— h\9,  efficacious  creation and 

his  all-conquering  necessitation,  which  is  nothing  but  an  adamantine 
chain  of  second  causes  created  by  Providence,  in  order  to  produce 
absolutely  all  the  effects  which  are  produced,  and  to  make  Ihem  impd 


14  REMARKS   ON   MR.    TOPLADY'S   SCHEME 

each  other  "  as  one  wave  impels  another ;"  we  desire  to  know,  how 
our  volitions  can  be  thus  irresistibly  impelled  upon  us  "  without  any 
compulsory  force  on  our  will."  I  do  not  see  how  Mr.  T.  can  get 
over  this  contradiction,  otherwise  than  by  saying,  that,  although  God's 
necessitation  is  irresistibly  impulsory,  yet  it  is  not  at  all  compulsory , 
although  it  absolutely  impels  us  to  will,  yet  it  does  not  in  the  least 
compel  us  to  he  willing.  But  would  so  frivolous,  so  absurd  a  distinc- 
tion as  this,  wipe  off  the  foul  blot  which  the  scheme  of  necessity 
fixes  on  the  Father  of  lights,  when  it  represents  him  as  the  first 
cause,  and  the  grand  contriver  of  all  our  sinful  volitions  ? 

Mr.  T.  pp.  133,  134,  among  other  pieces  of  Manicheism,  gives  us 
the  following  account  of  that  strange  religion.  "  There  are  two  inde- 
pendent gods,  or  infinite  principles  :  viz. — light,  and — darkness. 
The  first  is  the  author  of  all  good  :  and  the  second,  of  all  evil. — The 
evil  God  made  sin. — The  good  God  and  the  bad  God  wage  implacable 
war  against  each  other  ;  and  perpetually  clog  and  disconcert  one 
another's  schemes  and  operations.  Hence  men  are  impelled,  &c.  to 
good,  or  to  evil,  according  as  they  come  under  the  power  of  the 
good  deity,  or  the  bad  one."— Or,  to  speak  Calvinisticall}',  They  are 
necessarily  made  willing  to  believe  and  obey,  if  they  are  the  elected 
objects  of  everlasting  love,  which  is  the  good  principle ;  and  they 
are  irresistibly  made  willing  to  disbelieve  and  disobey,  if  they  are 
the  reprobated  objects  of  everlasting  wrath,  which  is  the  evil  princi- 
ple. For  free  will  has  no  more  place  in  Manicheism  than  it  has  in 
Calvinism.  Hence  it  appears,  that  setting  aside  the  other  peculiari- 
ties of  each  scheme,  the  grand  difference  between  Calvin  and  Manes, 
consists  in  Calvin's  making  everlasting,  electing,  necessitating  love, 
and  everlasting,  reprobating,  necessitating  wrath,  t<5*flow  from  the 
same  divine  principle ;  whereas  Manes  more  reasonably  supposed, 
that  they  flow  from  two  contrary  principles.  Whoever  therefore 
denies  free  isaill,  and  contends  for  necessity,  embraces,  before  he  is 
aware,  the  capital  error  of  the  Manichees  :  and  it  is  well,  if  he  do  not 
hold  it  in  a  less  reasonable  manner  than  Manes  himself  did.  "  I 
believe,"  add?  Mr.  Toplady,  ''  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  trace 
quite  up  to  its  source,  the  antiquity  of  that  hypothesis,  which  absurdly 
aflirras  the  existence  of  two  eternal,  contrary,  independent  princi- 
ples.— What  led  so  many  wise  people,  and  for  so  great  a  series  of 
ages,  into  such  a  wretched  mistake  ;  were  chiefly,  I  suppose,  these 
two  considerations  :  1.  That  evil,  both  moral  and  physical,  are  posi- 
tive things,  and  so  must  have  a  positive  cause. — 2.  That  a  Being,  per- 
fectly good,  could  not,  from  the  very  nature  of  his  existence,  be  the 
cause  of  such  bad  things." 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  15 

Here  Mr.  Toplady  reasons  like  a  judicious  divine.  The  misfortune 
for  his  scheme  is,  that  his  *'  two  considerations,"  like  two  millstones, 
grind  Calvinism  to  dust :  or,  like  two  cogent  arguments,  force  us  to 
emhrace  the  doctrine  of  free  will,  or  the  error  of  Manes.  Mr.  T. 
seems  aware  of  this ;  and  therefore,  to  show  that  God  can,  upon  the 
Calvinian  plan,  absolutely  predestinate,  and  effectually  bring  about  sin, 
by  making  men  willing  to  sin  in  the  day  of  his  irresistible  power  ; 
and  that  nevertheless  he  is  not  the  author  and  first  cause  of  sin; — 
To  show  this,  I  say,  Mr.  T.  asserts,  *'  That  evil,  whether  physical 
or  moral,  does  not,  upon  narrow  inspection,  appear  to  have  so  much 
ofposiiivily  init,  as  it  is  probable  those  ancients  supposed."  Nay,  he 
insinuates  that,  as  "  sickness  is  a  privation  of  health  ;"  so  the  sinful- 
ness of  any  human  action  is  said  to  be  a  privation  ;''^  being  called 
«»o]tt;<»,  illegality ; — and  he  adds,  that,  wonderful  as  the  thing  may 
appear.  Dr.  Watts,  in  his  Logic,  "  ventures  to  treat  of  sin  under 
the  title  of  not- 6eiwg."*  When  Mr.  Toplady  has  thus  cleared  the 
way,  and  modestly  intimated  that  sin,  being  a  kind  of  non-entity,  can 
have  no  positive  cause,  he  proposes  the  grand  questi'on,  "  Whether 
the  great  ]^lfst  Cause,  who  is  infinitely  and  merely  good,  can  be,  either 
efficiently  or  deficiently,  the  author  of  thein,''^  i.  e.  [according  to  the 
context]  the  author  of  iniquity,  injustice,  impiety,  and  vice ;  as  well 
as  the  author  of  the  natural  evil  by  which  God  punishes  sin  ? 

Page  139.  Mr.  T.  answers  this  question  thus :  "  In  my  opinion,  the 
single  word  permission  solves  the  whole  difficulty,  as  far  as  it  can  be 
solved,  &:c."  and  page  141.  he  says,  "  We  know  scarce  any  of  the 
views  which  induced  uncreated  goodness  to  ordain  ffor,  k,c.  I  see  no 
great  difference  between  permitting  and  ordaining)  ^he  introgression, 
or  more  properly,  the  intromission  of  evil."  Here  Mr.  Toplady  goes 
as  far  as  he  decently  can  :  rather  than  grant  that  we  are  endued  with 
free  -will,  and  that  when  God  had  made  angels  and  men  free-zcilling 
creatures,  in  order  to  judge  them  according  to  their  ovvn  works,  he 
could  not,  without  inconsistency,  rob  them  of  free  will  by  necessitating 
them  to  be  either  good  or  wicked  ; — rather,  I  say,  than  admit  this 
Scriptural  doctrine,  which  perfectly  clears  the  gracious  Judge  of  all 
the  earth,  Mr.  Toplady  first  indirectly  and  decently  extenuates  sin, 
and  brings  it  down  to  almost  nothing  ;  and  then  he  tells  us  that  God 
ordained  it.     Is  not  the  openness  of  Manes  preferable  to  this  Calvin  • 


*  If  the  Calvinisls,  in  their  unguarded  moments,  represent  sin  as  a  kind  of  not-being',  or 
?ion-cntUy,  that  they  may  exculpate  God  for  al)!!olutely  ordainin;^  it,  do  they  not  by  this 
mean  exculpate  the  sinner  also  ?  If  the Jirst  cause  of  sin  is  excusable,  because  sin  is  a  pri- 
■sation,  and  has  ^*  not  so  much  of  positivity  in  iV  as  the  ancients  supposed;  is  not  the 
srconcZ  cause  of  sin  much  more  excusable  on  the  sama  account  ? 


18  REMARKS    ON    ME.    TOPLADY's    SCHEME 

istic  winding? — When  Mr.  T.  grants,  that  God  "  ordained-^  sin,  and 
when  he  charges  "  the  intromission  of  evil"  upon  God,  does  he  not 
grant  all  that  Manes  in  this  respect  contended  for  ?  And  have  not  the 
Manichean  Necessitarians  the  advantage  over  Mr,  T,  when  they 
assert,  that  a  principle,  which  absolutely  ordains,  yea,  necessitates 
sin  and  all  the  works  of  darkness,  is  a  dai^k  and  evil  principle  'i  Can 
we  doubt  of  it,  if  we  believe  these  sayings  of  Christ,  Out  of  the 
[evil]  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts^  &c.  By  their  works  you  shall  know 
them. — The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit  ? 

Again  :  If  "  sin,"  or  rather  the  sinfulness  of  an  action,  may  be 
properly  called  a  *'  not-being'^  or  a  non-entity^  as  Mr.  Toplady  incon- 
sistently insinuates,  page  137.  it  absurdly  follows,  that  crookedness,  or 
the  want  of  straightness  in  a  line,  is  a  mere  privation  also,  or  a  7ioi- 
being ;  whereas  reason  and  feeling  tell  us,  that  the  crookedness  of  a 
crooked  line  is  something  every  way  as  positive  as  the  straightness  of 
a  straight  line.  To  deny  it,  is  as  ridiculous  as  to  assert,  that  a  circle 
is  a  not-being,  because  it  is  not  made  of  straight  lines  like  a  square  ; 
or  that  a  murder  is  a  species  of  non-entity,  because  it  is  not  the  legal 
execution  of  a  condemned  malefactor.  Nor  can  Mr.  Ijtmend  his 
error  by  hiding  it  behind  "  Dr.  Walts's  logic  ;"  for  the  world  knows 
that  Dr.  Watts  was  a  Calvinist  when  he  wrote  that  book  ;  and  there- 
fore, judicious  as  he  was,  the  vail  of  error  prevented  him  from  seeing 
then  that  part  of  the  truth  which  I  contend  for. 

Once  more  :  Whether  sin  has  a  positive  cause  or  not,  (for  Mr.  T. 
insiiiuates  both  these  doctrines,  with  the  inconsistency  peculiar  to  his 
system,)  I  beg  leave  to  involve  him  in  a  dilemma,  which  will  meet 
him  at  the  front  or  back  door  of  his  inconsistency.  Either  sin  is  a 
real  thing,  and  has  a  positive  cause  :  or  it  is  not  a  real  thing,  and  has 
no  positive  cause.  If  it  is  not  a  real  thing,  and  has  no  positive  cause  ; 
why  (loes  God  positively  send  the  wicked  to  hell  for  a  privation^ 
which  they  have  not  positively  caused  ?  And  if  sin  is  a  real  thing,  or 
a  positive  moral  crookedness  of  the  will  of  a  sinner,  and  as  such  has 
a  positive  cause  ;  can  that  positive  cause  be  any  other  than  the  self- 
perversion  of  free  will,  or  the  impelling  decree  of  a  sin-ordaining  God  ? 
If  the  positive  cause  of  sin  is  the  self- perversion  of  free  will,  is  it  not 
evident  that  so  sure  as  there  is  sin  in  the  world,  the  doctrine  of  free 
•will  is  true  ?  but  if  the  positive  cause  of  sin  is  the  impelling  decree 
of  a  sin-ordaining^  sin-necessitating  God ;  is  it  not  incontestable,  that 
the  capital  doctrine  of  the  Manichees,  the  doctrine  of  absolute  necessity, 
is  true  ;  and  that  there  is  in  the  Godhead  an  evil  principle,  (it  sig- 
nifies little  whether  you  call  it  matter^  darkness,  everlasting  free  wraths 
or  devil,)  which  positively  ordains  and  irresistibly  causes  sin  ?  In  a 


OF    rHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY.  17 

word,  is  it  not  clear,  that  the  second  Gospel  axiom  is  overthrown  by 
the  doctrine  of  necessity ;  and  that  the  damnation  of  sinners  is  of  God, 
and  not  of  themselves  ? 

While  Mr.  T.  tries  to  extricate  himself  from  this  dilemma,  I  shall 
produce  one  or  two  more  passages  of  this  book,  to  prove  that  his 
scheme  makes  God  the  author  of  sin,  according  to  the  most  danger- 
ous error  of  Manes.  The  Heathens  imagined  that  Minerva,  the  god- 
dess of  wisdom,  was  Jupiter's  offspring  in  the  most  peculiar  manner. 
Diana  was  indeed  Jupiter's  daughter, -l^ut  Latona,  an  earthly  princess, 
was  her  mother.  Whereas  Jupiter  was  at  once  the  father  and  mother 
of  Minerva.  He  begat  her  himself  in  the  womb  of  his  own  brain, 
and  when  she  was  ripe  for  the  birth,  his  forehead  opened  after  a  vio- 
lent headach,  which  answered  to  the  pangs  of  child-bearing,  and  out 
came  the  lovely  female  deity.  Mr.  Toplady,  alluding  to  this  heathen 
fiction,  represents  his  Diana,  Necessity,  as  proceeding  from  God  with 
her  immense  chain  ol'  events,  which  has  among  its  adamantine  links, 
all  the  follies,  heresies,  murders,  robberies,  adulteries,  incests,  and 
rebellions,  of  which  men  and  devils  have  been,  are,  or  ever  shall 
be,  guilty.  His  own  words,  page  50.  are,  "  Necessity,  in  general, 
with  all  its  extensive  series  of  adamantine  links  in  particular,  is,  in 
reality,  what  the  poets  feigned  of  Minerva,  the  issue  of  Divine  Wis- 
dom :"  [he  should  have  said,  the  issue  of  the  supreme  God,  by  his 
own  wise  brain]  "  deriving  its  whole  existence  from  the  free  will  of 
God;  and  iU  whole  eff'ectuosity  from  his  never-ceasing  providence." 
Is  not  this  insinuating,  as  plainly  as  decency  will  allow,  that  every 
sin,  as  a  link  of  the  adamantine  chain  of  events,  has  been  hammered 
in  heaven,  and  that  every  crime  "  derives  its  whole  existence  from  the 
free  will  of  God?^^  Take  one  more  instance  of  the  same  Manicheaa 
doctrine. 

Page  64.  Mr.  Toplady  having  said,  that  He  [God]  casteih  forth  his 
ice  like  morsels — and  causeth  his  wind  to  blow,  &c.  adds,  "  Neither  is 
material  nature  alone  bound  fast  in  fate.  All  other  things,  the  human 
will  itself  not  excepted,  are  not  less  tightly  bound,  i.  e.  effectually  influ- 
enced and  determined." — Hence  it  is  evident,  that  if  this  Calvinism 
be  true,  when  sinners  send  forth  volleys  of  unclean  and  profane  words, 
Calvin's  God  has  as  "  tightly  bound"  them  to  cast  forth  Manichean 
ribaldry,  as  the  God  of  nature  binds  the  clouds  to  cast  forth  his  ice  like 
morsels. 

I  would  not  be  understood  to  demonstrate  by  the  preceding  quo- 
tations, that  Mr.  T.  designs  to  make  God  the  author  of  sin.  No  :  on 
the  contrary,  I  do  him  the  justice  to  say,  that  he  does  all  he  can  to 
clear  his  doctrines  of  grace  from  this  dreadful  imputation.     I  onlv 

Vol.  IV.  3 


IS  REMARKS    ON   MR.    TOPLADY'S    SCHEME 

produce  his  own  words  to  show,  that,  notwithstanding  all  his  endea- 
vours, this  horrid  Manichean  consequence  unavoidably  flows  from  his 
scheme  of  necessity. 

SECTION  il. 

Mr.  T.  attempts  to  support  his  scheme  of  absolute  Necessity   by  Philo 
SOPHY. — His  philosophical  error  is  overthrown  by  fourteen  arguments, 
-^What  truth  comes  nearest  to  his  error. 


We  have  taken  a  view  of  the  Scheme  of  Necessity,  and  seen  how 
it  represents  God,  directly  or  indirectly,  as  the  First  Cause  of  all  sin 
and  damnation.  Consider  we  now,  how  Mr.  T.  defends  this  scheme 
by  rational  arguments  as  a  philosopher. 

Page  22.  "  The  soul  is,  in  a  very  extensive  degree,  passive  as  matter 
is  :"— Here  Mr.  Toplady,  in  some  degree,  gives  up  the  point.  He  is 
about  to  prove  that  the  soul  is  not  self-determined ;  and  that,  as  our 
bodily  organs  are  necessarily  and  irresistibly  affected  by  the  objects 
which  strike  them  ;  so  our  souls  are  necessarily  and  irresistibly  deter- 
mined by  our  bodily  organs,  and  by  the  ideas  which  these  organs 
necessarily  raise  in  our  minds  when  they  are  so  affected.  Now,  to 
prove  this,  he  should  have  proved  that  our  souls  are  altogether  as  pas- 
sive as  our  bodies.  But,  far  from  proving  it,  he  dares  not  assert  it : 
for  he  allows,  that  the  soul  is  passive  as  matter,  only  in  a  very  exten- 
sive degree:  and  therefore,  by  his  own  concession,  the  argument  on 
which  he  is  going  to  rest  the  notion  of  the  absolute  passiveness  of  the 
soul  with  respect  to  self-determination,  will  be  at  least  in  some  degree 
groundless.  But  let  us  consider  this  mighty  argument,  and  see  if  Mr. 
T.'s  limitation  frees  him  from  the  charge  of  countenancing  material- 
ism "  in  a  very  extensive  degree.^' 

Page  22.  "The  senses  are  necessarily  impressed  by  every  object 
from  without ;  and  as  necessarily  commove  the  fibres  of  the  brain  : 
from  which  nervous  commotion  ideas  are  necessarily  communicated 
to,  or  excited  in,  the  soul  ;  and  by  the  judgment  which  the  soul  neces- 
sarily frames  of  those  ideas,  the  will  is  necessarily  inclined  to  approve 
or  disapprove,  to  act  or  not  to  act.  If  so,  where  is  the  boasted  power 
of  self-determination?" 

This  Mr.  Toplady  calls  "  a  Survey  of  the  soul's  dependence  on  the 
body."  Page  27,  he  enforces  the  same  doctrine  in  these  words  : 
•'The  human  body  is  necessarily  encompassed  by  a  multitude  of  other 
bodies.  Which  other  surrounding  bodies,  animal,  vegetable,  &c.  so 
far  as  we  come  within  their  perceivable  sphere,  necessarily  impress 


OF  PHILOSOPHICAL  NECESSITY.  19 

our  nerves  with  sensations  correspondent  to  the  objects  themselves. 
These  sensations  are  necessarily,  &c.  propagated  to  the  soul,  which 
can  no  more  help  receiving  them,  and  being  affected  by  them,  than  a 
tree  can  resist  a  stroke  of  lightning, 

''Now,  1.  If  all  the  ideas  in  the  soul  derive  their  existence  from 
sensrition  ;  and  2.  If  the  soul  depend  absolutely  on  the  body  for  all 
those  sensations  ;  and  3.  If  the  body  be  both  primarily  and  con- 
tinually dependent  on  other  extrinsic  beings' for  the  very  sensations 
which  it  [the  body]  communicates  to  the  soul ; — the  consequence 
seems  to  me  undeniable,  that  neither  man's  mental  nor  his  outward 
operations  are  se//'-determined  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  determined  by 
the  views  with  which  an  infinity  of  surrounding  objects  necessarily^ 
and  almost  incessantly  impress  his  intellect." 

These  arguments  bring  to  my  mind  St.  Paul's  caution.  Beware  lest 
any  vian  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit.  That  Mr.  T.'s 
scheme  is  founded  on  a  vain  philosophy  will,  I  hope,  appear  evident 
to  those  who  weigh  the  following  remarks. 

I.  This  scheme  is  contrary  to  genuine  philosophy,  which  has 
always  represented  the  soul  as  able  to  resist  the  strongest  impressions 
of  the  objects  that  surround  the  body  ;  and  as  capable  of  going 
against  the  wind  and  tide  of  all  the  senses.  Even  Horace,  an  effemi- 
nate disciple  of  Epicurus,  could  say,  in  his  sober  moments, 

Justurn  et  tenacem  propositi  virum,  &c- 

"  Neither  the  clamours  of  a  raging  mob,  nor  the  frowns  of  a  threat- 
ening tyrant; — neither  furious  storms,  nor  roaring  thunders,  can 
move  a  righteous  man,  who  stands  firm  to  his  resolution.  The  wreck 
of  the  world  might  crush  his  body  to  atoms,  but  could  not  shake  his 
soul  with  fear."  But  Mr.  T.'s  philosophy  sinks  as  much  below  the 
poor  heathen's,  as  a  man  who  is  perpetually  borne  down,  and  carried 
away  by  every  object  of  sense  around  him,  is  inferior  to  the  steady 
man,  whose  virtue  triumphs  over  all  the  objects  which  strike  his 
senses. 

II.  This  doctrine  unmans  man.  For  reason,  or  a  power  morally 
to  regulate  the  appetites  which  we  gratify  by  means  of  our  senses, 
is  what  chiefly  distinguishes  us  from  other  animals.  Now,  if  outward 
objects  necessarily  bias  our  senses,  if  our  senses  necessarily  bias  our 
judgment,  and  if  our  judgment  necessarily  bias  our  will  and  practice: 
what  advantage  have  we  over  beasts  ?  May  we  not  say  of  reason, 
what  heated  Luther  once  said  of  free  will ;  that  it  is  an  empty  name, 
a  mere  non-entity  ?  Thus  Mr.  Toplady's  scheme  of  philosophical  ne- 
cessity, by  rendering  reason  useless,  saps  the  very  foundation  of  all 


20  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY's  SCHEME 

moral  philosophy,  and  hardly  allows  man  the  low  principle  of  conduct 
which  we  call  instinct  in  brutes.  Na}^  the  very  brutes  are  not  so 
aflected  by  the  objects  which  strike  their  senses  :  but  they  often  run 
away,  hungry  as  they  are,  from  the  food  which  tempts  their  eye,  their 
nose,  and  their  belly,  when  they  apprehend  some  danger,  though 
their  senses  discover  none.  Beasts  frequently  act  in  full  opposition  to 
the  sight  of  their  eyes  ;  but  the  wretched  scheme,  which  Mr.  T. 
imposes  upon  us  as  Chrisftan  philosophyf  supposes  that  all  men  necessa- 
rily think,  judge,  and  act,  not  only  according  to  the  sight  of  their  eyes^ 
but  according  to  the  impressions  made  by  matter  upon  all  their  senses. 
How  would  heathenish  fatalists  themselves  have  exploded  so  carnal  a 
philosophy ! 

in.  As  it  sets  aside  reason,  so  it  overthrows  conscience,  and  the 
light  which  enlightens  every  man  that  comes  i7ito  the  world.  For,  of 
what  use  is  conscience  ?  Of  what  use  is  the  internal  light  of  grace, 
which  enlightens  conscience  within,  if  man  is  necessarily  determined 
from  without ;  and  if  the  objects  which  strike  his  senses  irresistibly 
turn  his  judgment  and  his  will,  insomuch  that  he  can  no  more  resist' 
their  impression  "  than  a  tree  can  resist  the  stroke  of  lightning  ?" 

IV.  As  this  scheme  leaves  no  room  for  morality,  so  it  robs  us  of  the 
very  essence  of  God's  natural  image,  which  consists  chiefly  in  self- 
activity,  and  self-motion.  For,  according  to  Mr.  T.'s  philosophy, 
we  cannot  take  one  step,  no  not  in  the  affairs  of  common  life,  without 
an  irresistible,  necessitating  impulse.  Yea,  with  respect  to  self- 
activity,  he  represents  us  as  inferior  to  our  watches  :  They  have 
their  spring  of  motion  within  themselves,  and  they  can  go  alone,  if 
they  are  wound  up  once  in  twenty-four  hours.  But,  if  we  believe 
Mr.  T.  our  spring  of  motion  is  without  us :  nay,  we  have  as  many 
springs  of  motion  as  there  are  objects  around  us  ;  and  these  objects 
necessarily  wind  up  our  will  from  moment  to  moment.  For,  by  ne- 
cessarily moving  our  senses,  they  necessarily  move  our  understanding  j 
our  understanding  necessarily  moves  our  will ;  and  our  will  necessa- 
rily moves  our  tongues,  hands,  and  feet.  Thus  our  will  and  body, 
like  the  wheels  and  body  of  a  coach,  never  move  but  as  they  are 
ftioved,  and  cannot  help  moving  when  they  are  acted  upon.  How 
different  is  this  mechanical  religion  from  the  spiritual  religion  which 
the  learned  and  pious  Dr.  H.  More  inculcates  in  these  words  !  "  The 
first  degree  of  the  divine  image  was  self-motion,  or  self- activity.  For 
mere  passivity  ;  or  to  be  moved  or  acted  by  anbther,  without  a  man's 
will,  &c.  is  the  condition  of  such  as  are  either  dead  or  asleep  ;  as  to 
go  of  a  man's  self  is  a  symptom  of  one  alive,  or  awake. — Men  that 
are  dead  drunk,  may  be  haled,  or  disposed  of,  where  others  please;" 


OP  PHILOSOPHICAL  NECESSITY.  21 

— To  be  irresistibly  acted  upon,  is  then  to  be  *'  deprived  of  that 
degree  of  life,  which  is  self -activity,  or  the  doing  of  things  from  aa 
inward  principle  of  free  agency  ;  and  therefore  it  is  to  be,  so  far,  in 
a  state  of  death." 

Nor  will  Mr.  T.  mend  the  matter  by  urging,  that  our  understand- 
ing and  our  will  are  first  necessarily  moved  and  determined  by  the 
objects  that  surround  us.  For  the  motion  of  a  coach  drawn  by 
horses,  and  driven  by  a  coachman,  is  not  the  less  mechanical,  because 
the  smooth  axle-tree,  and  the  oiled  wheels,  he,\ng first  set  in  motion. 
move  the  whole  coach  by  readily  yielding  to  the  impulse  of  the 
external  mover.  Were  such  wheels  as  full  of  consciousness,  and 
willingness,  as  the  mystic  wheels  of  Ezekiel's  vision ;  yet  so  long  as 
they  moved  by  absolute  necessity,  or  by  an  oil  of  -willingness  irresisti- 
bly applied  to  them  from  without,  their  motion  would  not  be  more 
commendable  than  that  of  a  well-suspended  and  oiled  wheel,  which 
the  touch  of  your  finger  moves  round  its  axis.  It  turns  indeed  freely, 
and  (according  to  supposition)  willingly :  but  yet ;  as  it  wills  and 
moves  irresistibly  and  passively,  its  moving  and  willing  are  merely 
mechanical.  So  easy  and  short  is  the  transition  from  the  scheme  of 
absolute  necessity  to  that  of  universal  mechanism  ! 

V.  If  Mr.  T.'s  scheme  of  necessity  be  true,  all  sin  may  be  justly 
charged  upon  Providence,  who,  by  the  "surrounding  objects  which 
necessarily  impress  our  intellect,"  causes  sin  as  truly,  and  as  irre- 
sistibly, as  a  gunner  causes  the  explosion  of  a  loaded  cannon,  by  the 
lighted  match  which  he  applies  to  the  touchhole.  And  Eve  was 
unwise  when  she  said,  The  serpent  beguiled  me  and  I  did  eat :  for  she 
might  have  said  :  "  Lord,  I  have  only  followed  the  appointed  law  of 
my  nature  :  for  providentially  coming  within  sight  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge,  I  perceived  that  the  fruit  was  good  for  food,  and  pleasant 
to  the  eye.  It  necessarily  impressed  my  nerves  with  correspondent 
sensations  ;  these  sensations  were  necessarily  and  instantaneously 
propagated  to  my  soul  ;  and  my  soul  could  no  more  help  receiving 
these  forcible  impressions,  and  eating^n  consequence  of  them,  than 
a  tree  can  resist  a  stroke  of  lightning."  I  should  be  glad  to  know, 
with  what  justice  Eve  could  have  been  condemned  after  such  a  plea, 
if  Mr.  T.'s  scheme  be  true ;  especially  if  she  had  urged,  as  Mr. 
T.  does,  p.  14.  that  God's  necessitation  gives  birth  to  ^'providence ;'' 
i.  €.  to  the  all-directing  superintendency  of  divine  wisdom  and  power. 
carrying  the  whole  preconcerted  scheme  into  actual  execution,  by  the  sub- 
servient mediation  of  second  causes,''  [such  as  the  fair  colour  of  the 
fruit,  and  the  eye  of  Eve]  "  which  were  created  for  that  end,''     Cain 


22  REMARKS   ON   MR.   TOPLADY's    SCHEME 

any  man  say  that  if  Mr.  T.  be  right,  Eve  would  have  charged  God 
foolishly  ? 

However,  if  Eve  did  not  know  how  to  exculpate  herself  properly, 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  divine  necessitation,  Mr.  Toplady 
knows  how  to  reduce  his  Gospel  to  practice  ;  and  therefore,  in  an 
humorous  manner,  he  justifies  his  illiberal  treatment  of  his  opponent, 
thus  ;  [p.  10.]  "  Mr.  Wesley  imagines,  that,  upon  my  own  principles, 
I  can  be  no  more  than  a  clock.  And  if  so,  how  can  1  help  striking? 
He  himself  has  several  times  smarted  for  coming  too  near  the  pen- 
dulum."— What  a  sweet  and  profitable  Gospel  is  this !  Who  would 
wonder,  if  all  who  love  to  strike  their  fellow- servants  should  embrace 
Mr.  Toplady's  system,  as  a  comfortable  "  doctrine  of  grace,"  by 
v/hich  sin  may  be  humorously  palliated,  and  striking  sinners  com- 
pletely justified  ? 

VI.  It  is  contrary  to  Scripture  :  for  if  man  be  necessarily  affected, 
and  irresistibly  wrought  upon,  or  led  by  the  forcible  impression  of 
external  objects,  Paul  spake  like  a  heretical  free  wilier  when  he  said, 
All  things  [indifferent]  are  lawful  for  me :  hut  I  will  not  he  hrought 
under  the  power  of  any. — How  foolish  was  this  saying,  if  he  could 
no  more  help  being  brought  under  the  irresistible  power  of  the 
objects  which  surrounded  him,  than  a  tree  can  help  being  struck  by 
the  lightning  ? 

VII.  It  is  contrary  to  common  sense  :  how  can  God  reasonably  set 
life  and  death,  water  and  fire,  before  us,  and  bid  us  choose  eternal 
life  and  living  water,  if  surrounding  objects  work  upon  us  as  the 
lightning  works  upon  a  tree  on  which  it  falls  ?  And  when  the  Lord 
commands  the  reprobates  to  choose  virtue,  after  having  bound  them 
over  to  vice  by  the  adamantine  chain  of  necessitation,  does  he  not 
insult  over  their  misery,  as  much  as  a  sheriff  would  do,  who,  after 
having  ordered  the  executioner  to  bind  a  man's  hands,  to  fasten  hi? 
neck  to  the  gallows,  and  absolutely  to  drive  away  the  cart  from  under 
him,  should  gravely  bid  the  wretch  to  choose  life  and  liberty,  and 
bitterly  exclaim  against  him  for  neglecting  so  great  a  deliverance  ? 

VIII.  It  is  contrary  to  the  sentiment  of  all  the  churches  of  Christ, 
except  those  of  necessitarian  Rome  and  Geneva  :  for  they  all  reason- 
ably require  us  to  renounce  the  pomps  of  the  world,  and  the  alluring 
sinful  baits  of  the  flesh.  But,  if  these  pomps  and  baits  work  upon  us 
by  means  of  our  senses,  as  necessarily,  and  determine  our  will  as 
irresistibly,  as  lightning  shivers  a  tree,  can  any  thing  be  more  absurd 
than  our  baptismal  engagements  ?  Might  we  not  as  well  seriously 
vow  never  to  be  struck  by  the  lightning  in  a  storm,  as  solemnly  row 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  23 

uever'to  be  led  by,  or  follow,  the  vanities  of  the  world  and  the  sinful 
lusts  of  the  flesh? 

IX.  it  represents  the  proceedings  of  the  day  of  judgment  as  the 
most  unrighteous,  cruel,  and  hypocritical  acts,  that  ever  disgraced  the 
tribunal  of  a  tyrant.  For  if  God,  by  eternal,  absolute,  and  necessi- 
tating decrees,  places  the  reprobates  in  the  midst  of  a  current  of  cir- 
cumstances, which  carries  them  along  as  irresistibly  as  a  rapid  river 
wafts  a  feather  ; — if  he  encompasses  them  with  tempting  objects, 
which  strike  their  souls  with  ideas  that  cause  sin  in  their  hearts  and 
lives,  as  inevitably  as  a  stroke  of  lightning  raises  splinters  in  the  tree 
which  it  shatters  ; — and  if  we  can  no  more  help  being  determined  by 
these  objects,  which  God's  providence  has  placed  around  us  on  pur- 
pose to  determine  us,  than  a  tree  can  resist  a  stroke  of  lightning,  it 
unavoidably  follows,  that  when  God  will  judicially  condemn  the 
wicked,  and  send  them  to  hell  for  their  sins,  he  will  act  with  as  much 
justice  as  the  king  would  do,  if  he  sent  to  the  gallows  all  his  subject! 
who  have  had  the  misfortune  of  being  struck  with  lightning.  Nay,  to 
make  the  case  parallel,  we  must  suppose,  that  the  king  has  the  abso- 
lute command  of  the  lightning,  and  had  previously  struck  them  with 
the  fiery  ball,  that  he  might  subsequently  condemn  them  to  be  hanged 
for  having  been  struck  according  to  his  absolute  decree. 

Should  the  reader,  who  is  not  yet  initiated  into  the  mystery  of  the 
Calvinian  decrees,  ask,  if  it  be  possible  that  rigid  bound  willers  should 
fix  so  horrible  a  blot  upou  the  character  of  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth? 
I  answer  in  the  affirmitive  ;  and  I  prove  by  the  following  words  of 
Mr.  Toplady,  that,  if  Calvinism  be  true,  the  pretended  sentence, 
which  the  Judge  shall  pass  in  the  great  day,  will  be  only  a  publication 
or  ratification  of  the  everlasting  decrees  by  which  a  Manichean  deity 
absolutely  necessitates  some  men  to  repent  and  be  saved,  and  others 
to  sin  and  be  damned.  "  Christ,"  says  Mr.  Toplady,  in  his  Zanch. 
p.  87.  "  will  then  properly  sit  as  a  Judge  ;  and  open]y  publish^  and 
solemnly  ratify  his  everlasting  decrees^  by  receiving  the  elect,  &c.  into 
glory  ;  and  by  passing  sentence  on  the  non-elect,  [&c.]  for  their 
wilful  ignorance  of  divine  things,  and  their  obstinate  unbelief,  &c." — 
It  is  true,  that  after  the  word  non-elect,  Mr.  T.  adds  in  a  parenthesis 
these  words,  ["  not  for  having  done  what  they  could  not  help."]  But 
it  is  equally  true,  that  he  had  no  more  right  to  add  this  parenthesis, 
than  I  have  to  say,  that  the  lightning  is  at  my  command  :  for  through- 
out his  Scheme  of  Necessity,  he  attempts  to  prove,  that  man  is  not 
self-determined,  but  irresistibly  determined  by  some  other  being,  viz.  by 
God,  who  absolutely  determines  him  by  ^^  second  causes  created  for 
that  end  f^ — forcible  causes  these,  whose  impressions  are  so  strong 


24  REMARKS   ON   MR.    TOPLADY's    SCHEME 

that  we  "  can  no  more  help  receiving  ihem'^  [and  being  determined  by 
thera]  "  than  a  tree  can  resist  a  stroke  of  lightning.''^  Besides,  if  the 
non-elect  are  damned  ^^  for  their  obstinate  unbelief, ^^  as  Mr.  T.  tells  us 
in  this  quotation  ;  and  if  it  is  as  impossible  for  them  to  believe  as  to 
make  a  world,  [an  absurd  maxim  this — which  is  inculcated  by  rigid 
bound  willers]  it  is  evident  that  the  non-elect  can  no  more  help  their 
unbelief  than  they  can  help  their  incapacity  to  create  a  world. 

X.  Mr.  Toplady's  Scheme  of  Necessity  places  matter  and  its  impres- 
sions far  above  spirit  and  its  influence.  If  his  philosophy  be  true, 
every  material  object  around  us,  by  making  necessary,  irresistible  im- 
pressions upon  our  minds,  necessarily  determines  our  will,  and  irre- 
sistibly impels  our  actions.  According  to  his  system  therefore,  we 
cannot  resist  the  powerful  influence  of  matter.  But,  if  we  believe 
the  Scriptures,  we  can  resist  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  do  despite  to  the  Spirit 
of  grace.  Now,  what  is  this  but  to  represent  matter  [which  is  the 
God  of  the  Materialists,  and  the  evil  God  of  the  Manichees]  as 
more  active,  quick,  and  powerful,  than  Spirit  ?  Yea,  than  the  Holy 
Spirit  ? 

Mr.  Toplady  may  indeed  say,  that  the  material  objects,  by  which 
we  are  absolutely  determined,  are  only  God*s  tools,  by  which  God 
himself  determines  us  :  but,  though  this  salvo  may  so  far  reconcile 
the  scheme  of  necessity  to  itself;  it  will  never  reconcile  it  to  such 
scriptures  as  these.  Ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  your 
fathers  did. — /  would  have  gathered  you,  and  ye  would  not.  And, 
what  is  still  worse,  it  represents  God  as  working  Manichean  iniquity 
by  common  adulterers  and  robbers,  as  forcibly  as  a  miller  grinds  his 
corn  by  the  use  he  makes  of  a  current  of  air  or  a  stream  of  water. 

XL  The  scheme  of  philosophical  necessity  which  I  attack  sup- 
poses, that  God,  to  maintain  order  in  the  universe,  is  obliged  to 
necessitate  all  events,  from  the  wagging  of  a  dog's  tail,  or  the  rise  of 
a  particle  of  dust,  to  the  murder  of  a  king,  or  the  rise  of  an  empire. 
Thus  Mr.  T.  tells  us  in  his  preface  to  Zanchius,  (p.  4.)  *'  Bishop 
Hopkins  did  not  go  a  jot  too  far  in  asserting,"  that  "  not  a  dust  flies  on 
a  beaten  road,  but  God  raiseth  it,  conducts  its  uncertain  motion,  and, 
by  his  particular  care,  conveys  it  to  the  certain  place  he  had  before 
appointed  for  it :  nor  shall  the  most  fierce  and  tempestuous  wind 
hurry  it  any  farther."  I  object  to  this  puerile  system  ;  1.  Because  it 
absurdly  multiplies  God's  decrees  ;  rendering  them  not  only  as  numer- 
ous as  the  sands  on  the  sea-shore,  and  the  particles  of  dust  on  beaten 
roads ;  but  also  as  countless  as  all  the  motions  of  each  grain  of  sand  and 
particle  of  dust  in  all  ages.  At  this  rate,  a  large  folio  volume  could  not 
contain  all  the  decrees  of  God  concerning  the  least  particle  of  dust ; 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  25 

— its  rises  and  falls  ; — its  stops  and  hinderances  ; — its  situations  and 
moditirations  ; — its  whirlings  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  &lc.  he. — 
And  2.  Because  it  represents  God  as  being  endued  with  less  wisdom 
than  a  prudent  king,  who  can  maintain  good  order  in  his  kingdom, 
without  making  particular  laws  or  decrees  to  necessitate  every  eruc- 
tation of  his  drunken  ^soldiers,  or  every  puff  of  his  smoking  subjects  ; 
and  without  ordaining  every  tilthy  jest,  which  is  uttered  from  the 
ale-hench,  appointing  every  loud  invective  which  disturbs  Billings- 
gate, and  predestinating  every  wry  face  which  the  lunatics  make  in 
Bedlam. 

XH.  But  what  I  chiefly  dislike  in  this  scheme  is,  its  degrading  all 
human  souls  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  them  receive  their  moral 
excellence  and  depravity  from  the  contexture  of  the  brains  by  which 
they  work,  and  from  the  place  of  the  bodies  in  which  they  dwell. 
Insomuch  that  all  the  difference  there  is  between  one  who  thinks 
loyally,  and  one  who  thinks  otherwise  ; — between  one  who  believes 
that  Christ  is  God  over  all,  and  one  who  believes  that  he  is  a  mere 
creature,  consists  only  in  the  make  and  position  of  their  brains. 
Supposing,  for  example,  that  a  gentleman  has  honourable  thoughts  of 
his  king  and  of  his  Saviour  ;  and  is  ready,  from  a  principle  of  loyalty 
and  faith,  to  defend  the  dignity  of  George  the  Third,  and  the  divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ : — Supposing  also,  that  another  gentleman  breaks 
without  ceremony  these  two  evangelical  precepts.  Honour  the  kuig, — 
Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him  [Christ  ;] — I  ask,  Why  is  their 
moral  and  religious  conduct  so  opposite  ?  Is  it  because  the  first  gen- 
tleman's free-willing  soul  has  intrinsically  more  reverence  for  the 
king  and  for  our  Lord,  because  he  keeps  his  heart  more  tender  by 
faith  and  prayer,  and  his  conscience  more  devoid  of  prejudice, 
through  a  diligent  improvement  of  his  talent,  or  through  a  more 
faithful  use  of  his  free  agency,  and  a  readier  submission  to  the  light 
that  enlightens  every  man? — No  such  thing;  if  Mr.  T.'s  scheme 
be  true,  the  whole  difference  consists  in  "  mud  walls,^^  and  external 
circumstances. 

Page  33.  '<  The  soul  of  a  Monthly  Reviewer,  if  imprisoned  within 
the  same  mud  walls  which  are  tenanted  by  the  soul  of  Mr.  John 
Wesley,  would,  similarly  circumstanced,  reason  and  act,  (I  verily 
think)  exactly  like  the  bishop  of  Moorfields."— And,  pp.  34,  35,  he 
adds,  "  I  just  now  hinted  the  conjecture  of  some,  that  a  human 
spirit  incarcerated  in  the  brain  of  a  cat  would  probably  both  think 
and  behave  as  that  animal  does.  But  how  would  the  soul  of  a  cat 
acquit  itself,  if  enclosed  in  the  brain  of  a  man  ?  We  cannot  resolve 
this  question  with  certainty  any  more  than  the  other."— Admirable 

Vor..  IV.  4 


2B  REMARKS    ON    MR.    TOPLADy's    SCHEME 

divinity!  So!  Mr.  Toplady  leaves  the  orthodox  in  doubt: — 1. 
Whether,  when  their  souls,  and  the  souls  of  cats,  sh  ill  be  let  out  of 
their  respective  brains  or  prisons,  the  souls  of  cats  will  not  be  equal 
to  the  souls  of  men  : — 2.  Whether,  supposing  the  soul  of  a  cat  had 
been  put  in  the  brain  of  St  Paul,  or  of  a  Monthly  Reviewer,  the 
Boul  of  *'  puss"  would  not  have  made  as  great  an  apostle  as  the  soul 
of  Saul  of  Tarsus  ; — as  good  a  critic  as  the  soul  of  the  most  sensible 
Reviewer  : — And  3.  Whether,  in  case  the  '•  human  spirit"  [of 
Isaiah]  "  were  shut  up  in  the  skull  of  a  cat;  puss  would  not,  notwith- 
standing, move  prone  on  all  four,  purr  when  stroked,  spit  when 
pinched,  and  birds  and  mice  be  her  dnrling  objects  of  pursuit."  P. 
34. —  Is  not  this  a  pretty  large  stride  for  the  first  towards  the  doctrine 
of  the  sameness  of  the  souls  of  men  with  the  souls  of  cats  and  frogs  ? 
Wretched  Calvinism,  new-fangled  doctrines  of  grace,  where  are  you 
leading  your  deluded  admirers ! — your  principal  vindicators !  Is  it 
not  enough  that  you  have  spoiled  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  by 
turning  into  it  the  muddy  streams  of  Zeno^s  errbrs  ?  Are  ye  also 
going  to  poison  it  by  the  absurdities  of  Pythagoras'* s  philosophy? — 
What  a  side  stroke  is  here  inadvertently  given  to  these  capital  doc- 
trines, God  breathed  into  Adam  the  breath  of  life^  and  he  became  a 
living  soul, — a  soul  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  not  in  the  image  of 
a  cat :  —  The  spirit  of  the  beast  goeth  downward  to  the  earth: — But  the 
spirit  of  man  goeth  upward :  it  returns  to  God  who  gave  it,  with  an 
intention  to  judge  and  reward  it  according  to  its  moral  works  ? 

But  I  must  do  Mr.  Toplady  justice  :  he  does  not  yet  recommend 
this  doctrine  as  absolutely  certain.  However,  from  his  capital  doc- 
trine, that  human  souls  have  no  free  will — no  inward  principle  of 
self  determination  ;  and  from  his  avowed  opinion,  that  the  soul  of 
one  man  placed  in  the  body  of  another  man,  "  would,  similarly  cir- 
cumstanced, reason  and  act  exactly  like"  the  man  in  whose  mud  walls 
it  is  lodged  ;  it  evidently  follows,  1.  That,  had  the  human  soul  of 
Christ  been  placed  in  the  body  and  circumstances  of  A''ero,  it  would 
have  been  exactly  as  wicked  and  attrocious  as  the  soul  of  that  bloody 
monster  was  :  And  2.  That  if  Nero's  soul  had  been  placed  in  Christ's 
body,  and  in  his  trying  circumstances,  it  would  have  been  exactly  as 
virtuous  and  immaculate  as  that  of  the  Redeemer :  the  consequence 
is  undeniable.  Thus,  the  merit  of  the  man  Christ  did  not  in  the  least 
spring  Irom  his  righteous  soul,  but  from  his  "  mud  walls,^'  and  from 
the  happiness  which  his  soul  had  of  being  lodged  in  a  "  brain  pecu- 
liarly modified.''^  Nor  did  the  demerit  of  Nero  flow  from  his  free^ 
agency  and  self  perversion  ;  but  only  from  his  "  mud  walls,"  and 
from  the  infelicity  which  his  necessitated  soul  had  of  being  lodged 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  27 

in  an  ill  "  constructed  vehicle,''^  and  placed  on  that  throne  on  which 
Titus  soon  after  deserved  to  be  called  the  darling  of  mankind.  See, 
O  ye  engrossers  of  orthodoxy,  to  what  absurd  lengths  your  aversion 
to  the  hberty  of  the  will,  and  to  evangelical  worthiness,  leads  your 
unwary  souls  !  And  yet,  if  we  believe  Mr.  Toplady,  your  scheme, 
which  is  big  with  these  inevitable  consequences,  is  Christian  Philo- 
sophy, and  our  doctrine  of  free  will  is  "  philosophy  run  mad  1" 

XIII.  If  our  thoughts  and  actions  necessarily  flowed  from  the 
moditications  of  our  brains,  and  from  the  impressions  of  the  objects 
around  us,  it  would  necessarily  follow,  that  as  most  men  throughout  the 
whole  world,  see  the  sun  bright,  snow  white,  and  scarlet  red  ; — or  as 
most  men  taste  aloes  bitter,  vinegar  sour,  and  honey  sweet :  so  most 
men  would  think,  speak,  and  act  nearly  with  the  same  moral  uni- 
formity, which  is  perceivable  ih  their  bodily  organs,  and  ii>  the  objects 
which  affoct  those  organs  :  and  it  would  be  as  impossible  to  improve 
in  virtue,  by  a  proper  exertion  of  our  powers,  and  by  a  diligent  use 
of  our  talents,  as  it  is  impossible  to  improve  the  whiteness  of  the 
snow,  or  our  power  to  see  it  white,  by  a  diligent  use  of  our  sight. 
At  this  rate  too,  conversion  would  not  be  so  much  a  reformation  of 
our  spiritual  habits  as  a  reformation  of  our  brains. 

XIV.  But  the  worst  consequences  are  yet  behind  :  For  if  God 
work  upon  our  souls  in  the  same  manner  in  which  he  works  upon 
matter  ;  if  he  raises  our  ideas,  volitions  and  jiassions,  as  necessarily 
as  a  strong  wind  raises  the  waves  of  the  sea,  with  their  roar,  their 
foam,  and  their  other  accidents  ;  in  a  word,  if  he  works  as  absolutely 
and  irresistibly  upon  spirit  as  he  does  upon  matter  ;  it  follows,  that 
spirit  and  matter,  being  governed  upon  the  same  principles,  are  of 
the  same  nature  ;  and  that  if  there  be  any  difference  between  the 
soul  and  the  body,  it  is  only  such  a  difference  as  there  is  between  the 
tallow  which  composes  a  lighted  candle,  and  the  flame  which  arises 
out  of  it.  The  light  flame  is  as  really  matter,  as  the  heavy  tallow,  and 
the  ponderous  candlestick  ;  and  all  are  equally  passive  and  subject  to 
the  laws  of  absolute  necessity.     Ai^ain, 

If  virtue  and  vice  necessarily  depend  on  the  modification  of  our 
brains,  and  the  objects  which  surround  us,  it  follows,  that  the  effect 
will  cease  with  the  cause,  and  that  bodily  dissolution  will  consign  our 
Tirtue  or  vice  to  the  dust,  into  which  our  brains  and  bodily  organs  will 
soon  be  turned;  and  that  when  the  souls  of  the  righteous,  and  the 
souls  of  the  wicked,  shall  be  removed  from  their  "  mud  walls,"  and 
from  the  objects  which  surround  thone  mud- walls,  they  will  be  (nearly 
at  least)  on  a  level  with  each  other,  if  they  are  not  on  a  level  with 
the  souls  of  cats  and  dogs. 


28  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADy's  SCHEME 

Lest  Mr.  Toplady's  admirers  should  think,  that  prejudice  makes 
me  place  his  mistakes  in  too  strong  a  light,  I  shall  close  these  argu- 
ments by  the  judgment  of  the  Monthly  Reviewers. — In  their  Review 
for  1775,  they  give  us  the  following  abridged  account  of  Mr.  Top- 
lady's  Scheme  of  Necessity. 

"  The  old  controversy  concerning  Liberty  and  Necessity  has  lately 
been  renewed  :  Mr.  Toplady  avows  himself  a  strenuous,  and  very 
positive  champion  on  the  side  of  necessity,  and  revives  those  argu- 
ments which  were  long  since  urged  by  Spinoza,  Hobbes,  &c."  [two 
noted  intidels,  or  rather  atheistical  materialists]  "  It  is  somewhat  sin- 
gular in  the  history  of  this  dispute,  that  those  who  profess  them- 
selves the  friends  of  Revelation  should  so  earnestly  contend  for  a 
system  which  unbelievers  have  very  generally  adopted  and  main- 
tained.—This  appears  the  more  strange,  when  we  consider,  that  the 
present  assertors  of  Necessity  manifest  a  very  visible  tendency  to 
Materialism.  Fate  and  universal  mechanism  seem  to  be  so  nearly- 
allied,  that  they  have  been  usually  defended  on  the  same  ground,  and 

by  the  same  advocates.     Mr.  T y  indeed  admits,  that  the  two 

component  principles  of  man,  body  and  soul,  *  are  not  only  distinct,  but 
essentially  different  from  each  other.''  But  it  appears  in  the  sequel  of 
his  reasoning,  that  he  has  no  high  opinion  of  the  nature  and  powers 
of  the  latter  [the  soul.]  '  An  idea,  he  observes,  is  that  image,  form, 
or  conception  of  any  thing,  which  the  soul  is  impressed  with  from 
without  :  and  he  expressly  denies  that  the  soul  has  any  power  of 
framing  new  ideas,  different  from,  or  superior  to  those,  which  are 
forced  upon  it  by  the  bodily  senses.  *  The  soul,  he  affirms,  is  in  a 
very  extensive  degree  passive  as  matter  itself.'  On  his  scheme,  the 
limitation  vvith  which  he  guards  this  assertion  is  needless  and  futile.' 

While  this  Monthly  Review  is  before  me,  I  cannot  help  transcribing 
from  it  two  other  remarkable  passages.  The  one  occurs  four  pages 
after  the  preceding  quotation.  The  correspondents  of  the  Reviewers 
give  them  an  account  of  an  absurd  and  mischievous  book,  written  by 
some  wild  atheistical  philosopher  abroad,  who  thinks  that  all  matter  is 
alive,  that  the  earth  is  a  huge  animal,  and  that  we  feed  upon  it,  as 
gome  diminutive  insects  do  upon  the  back  of  an  ass.  "  His  moral 
doctrine,"  say  the  Reviewers,  "is  of  a  piece  with  the  rest :  The 
result  of  his  reasoning  on  the  subject  is,  in  his  own  words,  that '  man, 
in  every  instant  of  his  duration,  is  a  passive  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
Necessity;^ — Then  I^et  us  drink  and  drive  care  away,  drink  and  be 
merry,  as  the  old  song  says  ;  which  is  the  practical  application." — I 
tvould  not  be  understood  to  charge  'this  application  upon  Mr.  Top- 
lady  ;  I  only  mention  it,  after  the  Reviewers,  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence of  his  system  of  Necessity. 


OF  PHILOSOPHICAL  NECESSITY.  29 

The  other  passage  is  taken  from  the  Review  of  Dr.  Hartley'' s* 
TJieory  of  the  Human  Mind,  published  by  Dr.  Priestley,  who  pleadis  as 
strongly  for  necessity  as  Mr.  Toplady  himself. 

**  Materialism  [say  the  Reviewers]  has  been,  from  early  ages,  con- 
sidered as  one  of  the  chief  bulwarks  of  Atheism.  Accordingly, 
while  Epicurus  and  Hobbes,  and  their  disciples,  have  endeavoured  to 
defend  it,  Theists  and  Christian??  have  pointed  their  batteries  against 
it. — But  we  learn  from  Dr.  Priestley,  that  perception,  and  all  the 
mental  powers  of  man,  are  the  result  of  such  an  organical  structure 
as  that  of  the  brain. — How  would  Epicurus,  how  would  Collins  have 
triumphed,  had  they  lived  to  see  this  point  [that  the  mental  powers  of 
man  result  from  such  an  organical  structure  as  that  of  the  brain] 
given  up  to  them,  even  by  a  Christian  Divine !— Another  discovery, 
very  consonant  to  the  first,  is,  that  the  whole  man  becomes  extinct  at 
death.  For  this  concession  Atheists  will  likewise  thank  him,  as  it 
has  been  one  of  the  chief  articles  of  their  creed  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world. — Let  us  suppose,  with  Dr.  Priestley,  that  all  the  mental 
powers  of  Julius  Cesar  resulted  from  the  organical  structure  of  his 
brain.  This  organical  structure  is  dissolved,  and  the  whole  man, 
Julius  Cesar,  becomes  extinct :  the  matter  of  this  brain,  however, 
remains,  but  it  is  not  Julius  Cesar  ;  for  he  (ex  hypothesi)  is  wholly 
extinct." 

Having  produced  a  variety  of  arguments,  which,  I  trust,  will 
altogether  have  weight  enough  to  sink  Mr.  Toplady's  scheme  of  ne- 
cessity to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  of  error,  where  a  vain  Philosophy 
begat  it  on  a  monstrous  body  of  corrupted  Divinity,  I  shall  conclude 
this  section  by  setting  my  seal  to  the  truths  which  border  most  upon 
Mr.  Toplady's  error,  and  by  which  he  is  deceived,  according  to  the 
old  saying,  Decipimur  specie  recti^  "  We  embrace  falsehood  under  the 
deceitful  appearance  of  some  truth." 

Mr.  Toplady  is  certainly  in  the  right  when  he  asserts,  that  there  is 
a  close  connexion  between  our  soul  and  body  ;^-and  that  each  has  a 
reciprocal  influence  on  the  other.  We  readily  grant  that  a  cheerful 
mind  is  conducive  to  bodily  health,  and  that 

Corpus  onustum 
Hesternis  vitiis  animum  quoque  praegravat  uni, 
Atque  aflBgit  humo  divinae  particulam  aurse.     Hor. 


*  Mr.  Toplady,  p.  148,  intimates  to  his  readers,  that  Dr.  Hartley  has  written  an  "  emi- 
nent defence  of  Necessity,"  aiid  promises  himself  "  a  feast  of  pleasure  and  instruction"  in 
reading  his  book. 


30  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY's  SCHEME 

"  The  soul,  which  dwells  in  a  body  o{»pre!»sed  with  lastnis^ht's  excess, 
is  clogged  by  the  load  which  disorders  the  body."  Nor  do  we  deny, 
that,  in  a  thousand  cases,  our  bodies  and  our  circumstances  may  pre- 
vent the  full  exertion  of  our  spiritual  powers,  as  the  lameness  of  a 
horse,  or  its  natural  slu2:gishness,  adtled  to  the  badness  of  the  road, 
may  prevent  the  speed  which  a  good  rider  could  make,  if  he  had  a 
better  horse  and  a  better  road.  But  to  carry  this  consideration  as 
far  as  Mr.  Toplady  does,  is  as  absqrd  as  to  suppose,  that  the  skill  and 
expedition  of  a  rider  depend  entirely  on  his  beast,  and  on  the  goodness 
of  the  road.  We  likewise  allow,  that  sometimes  the  soul  may  be  as 
much  overpowered  by  a  disordered,  dying  body,  as  a  rider,  who  is 
irresistibly  carried  away  by  a  mad  horse,  or  lies  helpless  under  the 
weight  of  a  dying  horse.  But  in  such  cases,  we  do  not  consider  the 
soul  as  accountable ;  as  neither  delirious  persons,  nor  those  who  are 
dying  of  a  paralytic  stroke,  are  answerable  for  their  actions  and  omis- 
sions in  such  peculiar  circumstances. 

In  all  other  cases,  history  furnishes  us  with  a  variety  of  examples 
of  men,  who,  through  a  faithful  use  of  their  talents,  have  overcome 
the  infelicity  of  their  constitution  and  circumstances  ;  whilst  others, 
by  a  contrary  conduct,  have  perverted  the  most  happy  constitution, 
and  the  most  fortunate  circumstances  in  life.  Thus  Socrates,  by  im- 
proving his  light,  mastered  an  unhappy  constitution,  which  in  his 
youth  carried  him  to  violent  anger,  and  an  undue  gratification  of 
bodily  appetites.  And  thus  Solomon,  by  not  improving  his  light,  in 
his  old  age  made  shipwreck  of  the  wisdom,  temperance,  and  piety, 
that  distinguished  him  in  his  youth.  So  Nero  outlived  the  happy 
dispositions  whic  h  made  him  shine  in  the  former  part  of  his  life. 
And  Manasses,  by  hutubling  himself  before  the  God  of  his  fathers,  over- 
came in  his  old  age  the  horrid  and  abominable  propensities  which 
constituted  him  a  monster  of  iniquity  in  his  youthful  days. 

Likewise  with  respect  to  the  circumstances  in  which  we  are 
placed  by  Providence  1  grant  they  have  a  considerable  weight  in 
the  turn  of  our  afifections  :  nevprtheless,  this  weight  is  by  no  means 
such  as  Mr.  T.  supposes.  Diogenes  might  be  as  proud  in  his  tub, 
as  Alexander  in  his  magnificent  palace.  A  gown  and  band  may  cover 
a  revengeful  clergyman,  whilst  a  stur  and  garter  shine  on  a  benevo- 
lent courtier.  Cornelius  turned  to  God  in  the  army  ;  and  the  sons 
of  Eli  vvpnt  after  Satan  in  the  temple.  Domitian  and  Marcus  Antoni- 
nus filled  the  same  throne  :  where  the  one  astonished  the  universe  by 
his  wickedness,  as  the  other  did  by  his  virtue.  Abraham  and  Agatho- 
cles  were  humble  in  the  midst  of  riches  ;  and  too  many  beggars  are 
proud  in  the  depth  of  poverty.     Some  men  are  content  in  a  sordid 


OP    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY.  31 

cottage  ;  while  others  murmnr  in  the  mo?t  splendid  palaces.  The 
treasurer  of  the  queen  of  Ethiopia  was  [it  seems]  converted  in  the 
vanity  of  a  heathen  court,  whilst  Judas  was  perverted  in  the  com- 
pany of  Christ  and  his  fellow-apostles.  In  short,  whilst  thousands, 
like  Absalom,  have  turned  out  had,  notwithstanding  the  best  instruc- 
tions :  numbers,  like  the  Philippian  jailer,  have  turned  out  well, 
mausrre  the  worst  education  Such  is  the  power  of  free  grace  and 
free  will.  To  lay  therefore  so  much  stress  upon  external  circum- 
stances, is  to  undo  by  overdomg,  and  to  wiredraw  the  truth  till  it  is 
refined  into  error. 

Upon  the  whole,  we  have  Scripture  and  experience  on  our  side, 
when  we  assert  that  reason,  conscience,  the  lijiht  which  [in  various 
deg:rees]  enlightens  every  man,  the  general  assistance  of  diviae  grace, 
and  the  peculiar  or  p-ovidc-ntial  helps  of  God  our  Saviour,  are  more 
than  sufficient  savingly  to  overrule  the  infelicity  of  our  bodily  con- 
stitution, and  our  circumstances  in  life,  if  we  are  not  wilfully  and  per- 
versely wanting  to  ourselves  :  for,  of  them  to  whom  less  is  given,  less 
will  be  required :  and  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  under  which 
we  labour,  shall  all  be  taken  into  the  account  of  our  evangelical 
worthiness  or  unworthiness,  in  the  day  when  tilod  shall  judge  us  ac- 
cording to  the  several  editions  of  his  everlasting  Gospfl,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  good  or  bad  use  which  we  make  of  his  talents  of  nature 
and  grace. 

SECTION  III. 


Remarks  upon  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  T.  attempts  to  s^upport 
his  Scheme  of  jyecessliy  from  Scripture. — Twelve  Keys  to  open  the 
Scriptures  on  which  he  founds  that  Scheme. 

We  have  seen  how  Mr.  T.  has  propped  up  his  system  by  philo- 
sophical arguments  :  let  us  now  see  how  he  does  it  by  scriptural 
proofs.  Page  54.  he  says,  "  No  man  can  consij-tently  acknowledge 
the  divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures  without — being  an  absolute 
Necessitarian.'''^  To  demonstrate  this  strange  proposition,  he  pro- 
duces among  many  more,  the  passages  which  mention  the  case  of 
Joseph  and  his  brethren,  the  Lord  and  Pharaoh,  Eli  and  his  sons, 
Absalom  and  his  father's  wives,  Shimei  and  David,  Christ  arid  his 
crucifiers.  &c.  As  I  have  shown,  in  other  publications,  that  these 
scriptures,  when  Uken  in  connexion  with  the  context  and  the  tenor 
of  the  Bible,  perfectly  agree  with  the  doclriaes  of  justice,  which  are 


32  REMARKS    ON    MR. 

inseparably  connected  with  the  doctrines  o^  free  ■will  in  man  and  just 
wrath  in  God  ;  I  shall  not  swell  this  tract  by  vain  repetitions,  espe- 
cially as  Mr.  T.  does  not  support  by  argument  the  sense  which  he 
fixes  on  these  passages.  However,  that  the  public  may  see  what 
method  he  follows  in  trying  to  vindicate  his  error  from  Scripture,  I 
shall  present  my  readers  with  some  keys  by  which  they  will  easily 
open  the  scriptures  which  he  misapplies,  and  discover  the  rotten 
foundation  of  Calvinism. 

First  Key.  Detaching  a  passage  of  Scripture  from  the  context, 
that  what  God  does  for  particular  reasons  may  appear  to  be  done 
absolutely,  and  from  mere  sovereignty,  is  a  polemical  stratagem  com- 
monly used  by  the  Calvini^ts.  The  first  passage  which  Mr.  T, 
produces,  draws  all  its  apparent  conclusiveness  from  this  artful 
method. 

Page  66,  "/  withheld  thee  from  sinning  against  me.  Gen.  xx.  6." 
By  quoting  this  detached  clause,  Mr.  T.  would  insinuate,  that  whilst 
God  absolutely  ordains  some  men  to  sin,  he  absolutely  withholds  other 
men  from  sin.  To  see  that  his  conclusion  is  unscriptural,  we  need 
only  read  the  whole  verse  :  God  said  to  him  [Abimelech]  in  a  dream. 
Yea,  1  know  that  thou  didst  this  in  the  integrity  of  thy  heart  :  for 
I  also  withheld  thee  from  sinning  against  me,  therefore  I  suffered  thee 
not  to  touch  her.  Now,  who  that  adverts  to  the  words  in  capitals, 
does  not  see,  that  God's  keeping  Abimelech  from  sinning,  that  is, 
from  marrying  Abraham's  wife,  was  a  reward  of  Abimelech's  in- 
tegrity, as  well  as  of  Abraham's  piety  ?  Therefore,  this  very  text 
proves,  that  God  rewards  upright  free  will  with  restraining  grace,  as 
well  as  with  glory ;  and  not  that  man  has  no  free  will,  and  that  he  is 
made  willing  to  work  righteousness,  or  to  commit  sin,  as  necessarily 
as  puppets  are  made  to  move  to  the  right  or  to  the  let\  by  the  show- 
man, who  absolutely  causes  and  manages  their  steps.  Take  another 
instance  of  the  same  stratagem  : 

Page  66.  "  The  Lord  of  hosts  hath  stsDorn,  i.  e.  hath  solemnly  and 
immutably  decreed,  saying.  Surely  as  I  have  thought,  so  shall  it  come  to 
pass:  and  as  I  have  purposed,  so  shall  it  stand. ''^ — Here  Mr.  Toplad^^ 
breaks  off  the  quotation,  and  leaves  out  what  follows.  That  I  will  break 
the  Assyrian,  i.  e.  the  wicked  in  general,  but  particularly  Sennacherib 
the  proud,  blaspheming  king  of  Assyria,  whose  immense  army  was 
cut  off  in  one  night  by  an  angel.  "  And  upon  my  mountains  tread  him 
under  foot,  &c." — By  this  mean  Mr.  T.  makes  his  hasty  readers 
believe,  that  God  speaks  of  a  Calvinian,  absolute  decree,  founded 
upon  Antinomian  grace  and  free  wrath  ;  and  not  of  a  judicial  retri^ 
bntive  decree,  founded  upon  the  humility  of  the   righteous,  and  the 


OP   PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  33 

desert  of  the  wicked  ;  though,  verse  13,  kc.  the  decree  and  its  cause 
are  thus  expressly  mentioned,  Thou  hast  said  in  thy  heart,  I  zvill 
ascend  into  heaven,  &c.  I  will  be  like  the  Most  High,  &c.  Yet  ihou  shall 
he  brought  down  to  hell.  When  Mr.  T.  has  hidden  these  keys  to  the 
doctriDes  of  justice,  which  we  defend,  it  is  easy  for  him  to  apply  to  his 
doctrine  of  free  wrath  the  peremptoriness  of  God's  decree,  and 
accordingly  he  triumphs  much  in  these  words,  "  This  is  the  purpose 
which  is  purposed  upon  all  the  earth,  &c.  For  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath 
purposed,  and  who  shall  disannul  it  ?  And  his  hand  is  stretched  out, 
and  who  shall  turn  it  back?  Isa.  xiv.  24,  &c.  Who  shall  disannul 
God's  purpose  ?  [adds  Mr.  T.]  Why,  human  free  will,  to  be  sure  ! — 
Who  shall  turn  back  God's  hand  ?  Human  self-determination  can  do 
it  with  as  much  ease  as  our  breath  can  repel  the  down  of  a  feather  !" 

This  argument  is  full  fraught  with  absurdity.     Did  we  ever  assert, 

that  when  free  will  has  obstinately  sinned,  it  can  reverse  an  absolute 
decree  of  punishment  ?  Do  we  not,  on  the  contrary,  maintain  the 
proper  exertion  of  justice  in  opposition  to  the  Calvinian  dreams  of 
absolute  election  and  reprobation,  according  to  which  the  salvation 
of  some  notorious  impenitent  sinners  is  now  actually  finished,  and  the 
damnation  of  some  unborn  infants  is  now  absolutely  secured  ? 

Page  67.  By  a  similar  method,  Mr.  T.  tries  to  prove  the  doctrine 
of  necessitating  free  wrath,  thus  :  *'  /  have  smitten  you  with  blasting  and 
mildew. — /  have  sent  you  the  pestilence.  —  Your  young  men  have  I  slain 
with  the  sword,  Amos  iv.  7 — 10." — But  he  forgets  to  tell  us  that 
this  severity  is  not  Calvinistical  and  diabolical,  but  righteous  and 
judicially  retributive ;  for  the  persons  thus  punished  are  said  just 
before  to  be  wicked  men,  who  oppress  the  poor,  who  crush  the  needy, 
who  say  to  their  masters.  Bring  [strong  drink]  and  let  us  drink.  Amos 
iv.  1.  Therefore  all  that  can  be  inferred  from  these,  and  a  thou- 
sand such  scriptures,  is,  that  when  free  agents  have  obstinately 
sinned,  punishment  overtakes  them  whether  they  will  or  not.  And 
when  the  Calvinists  ground  their  Maoichean  notions  of  a  wrathful, 
absolute  sovereignty  in  God  upon  such  conclusions,  they  expose  their 
good  sense  as  much  as  I  should  expose  my  reason  if  I  said,  "  I  can 
demonstrate  that  all  robbers  are  absolutely  necessitated  to  go  on  the 
highway,  because  when  they  are  caught  and  condemned,  they  are 
absolutely  necessitated  to  go  to  the  gallows." 

Second  Key.  Because  God  can  do  a  thing,  and  does  it  on  particular 
occasions,  Mr.  T.  and  his  adherents  infer,  that  he  does  it  always. 
Thus  to  prove  that  God  necessarily  turns  the  hearts  of  all  men  at  all 
times,  and  in  all  places,  to  sin  or  to  righteousness ;  3Tr.  T.  produces 
the  following  text. 

Vol.  IV.  .^ 


34  REaiARKS    ON   MR.   TOPLADY's    SCHEMA 

Page  G5.  *'  Even  the  k{ng\s  heart  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  as  the 
rivers  of  water :  and  he  turneth  it  whithersoever  he  will.  Pro  v.  xxi.  1. 
Odd  sort  of  self-determination  this  !"— We  never  denied  the  supreme 
power  which  God  has  even  over  the  hearts  of  proud  kings,  who 
generally  are  the  most  imperious  of  men.  When  he  will  absolutely 
turn  their  will  for  the  accomplishment  of  some  providential  design, 
bis  wisdom  and  omnipotence  can  undoubtedly  do  it.  Thus  by  letting 
the  Philistines  loose  upon  Saul's  dominions,  God  turned  his  heart,  and 
made  him  change  his  design  of  immediately  surrounding  and  destroy- 
ing David,  Thus  he  turned  the  heart  of  Ahasuerus  from  his  pur- 
pose of  destroying  the  Jews,  by  the  providential  reading  of  the 
records  which  reminded  the  king  of  the  obligation  he  was  under  to 
Mordecai. — Thus  he  turned  the  heart  of  Pharaoh  towards  Joseph, 
by  giving  Joseph  wisdom  to  explain  his  prophetic  dream. — Thus 
ag^in  he  turned  the  heart  of  Nebuchadnezzar  from  his  purpose  of 
destroying  Daniel  and  all  the  wise  men  in  Babylon,  by  enabling 
Daniel  to  tell  and  open  the  king's  mysterious  vision. — And  when  the 
king  of  Assyria  was  bent  upon  making  war  against  the  Israelites  and 
the  Ammonites,  and  cast  lots  to  know  which  he  should  destroy  first, 
Rabbah  or  Jerusalem,  God  providentially  ordered  the  lot  to  fall  upon 
guilty  Jerusalem.  Isa.  x.  6,  7.  Ezek.  xxi  21.  &c.  For,  in  such 
cases,  '*  The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap^^  without  an  eye  to  the  Lord,  "  but 
the  whole  disposing  thereof  is  of  the  Lord.^''  Prov.  xvi.  33.  But  these 
peculiar  interpositions  of  Providence  no  more  prove  that  God  abso- 
lutely turns  the  hearts  of  all  kings,  and  of  all  men  in  all  things  and 
on  all  occasions,  as  Mr.  T.'s  system  supposes,  than  a  farrier's 
drenching  now  and  then  a  horse,  in  peculiar  circumstances,  proves 
that  all  horses  throughout  the  world  never  drink  but  when  they  are 
drenched. 

Third  Key.  The  Necessitarians  confound  our  inability  to  do  some 
or  all  things  with  an  inability  to  do  any  thing.  Thus  Mr.  T.  attempts 
to  prove,  that  we  can  do  nothing  but  what  we  are  necessitated  to  do, 
and  that  *'  Christ  himself  was  an  absolute  JVecessitarian''^  by  the  follow* 
ing  argument  : 

Page  71.  *'  Thou  canst  not  make  one  hair  white  or  black. —  Your 
Father,  ^c.  makes  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeih 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust.  Surely,  man  can  can  neither  pro- 
mote nor  hinder  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  the  falling  of  the  rain." 
— But  to  conclude  that  all  things  are  absolutely  necessary,  because 
we  cannot  alter  the  colour  of  our  hair,  command  the  clouds,  and 
hasten  sun-rising,  is  as  absurd  as  to  conclude,  that  a  dier  cannot 
absolutely  alter  the  colour  of  the  silks  which  he  dies,  because  he 


OP    THILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY.  35 

cannot  change  the  colour  of  his  own  hair  or  eyes.  It  is  as  ridicu- 
lous as  to  infer  that  we  cannot  move  a  pebble  because  we  cannot  stir 
a  mountain  : — that  we  cannot  turn  our  eyes  like  men  because  we 
cannot  turn  our  ears  like  horses  : — and  that  we  have  no  immediate 
command  of  our  thoughts  and  hands,  because  we  have  no  immediate 
command  of  the  clouds  and  the  sun.  When  Air.  T.  imposes  such  a 
philosophy  upon  us,  is  he  not  as  grossly  mistaken  as  Mons.  Voltaire, 
his  companion  in  Necessitarianism,  who  gives  us  to  understand,  that 
because  pear-trees  can  bear  no  fruit  but  pears,  men  can  bear  no 
moral  fruit  but  such  as  they  actually  produce  ;  and  that  fiite  fixes  our 
thoughts  in  our  brains  as  necessarily  as  nature  fixes  our  teeth  in  our 
jaw-bones  ?  How  absurd  is  a  system  of  philosophy,  which  a  Voltaire 
and  a  Toplady  are  obliged  to  prop  up  by  such  weak  arguments  as 
these  ! 

Fourth  Key.  The  Calvinists  suck  scriptural  metaphors  till  they 
imbibe  the  blood  of  error  instead  of  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word.  And 
if  I  might  compare  scripture  comparisons  to  rational  animals,  I  would 
say,  that  Mr.  T.  makes  them  go  upon  all  four.  Hence  it  is  that  he 
says, 

Page  58.  *'  Man  is  born  unto  trouble  as  the  sparks  Jly  upwards,  Job 

V.  7.  And  I  am  apt  to  think  sparks  ascend  by  necessity." By  this 

method  of  arguing,  I  can  demonstrate  that  Christ  was  clothed  with 
feathers  ;  for  he  says,  /  would  have  gathered  you  as  a  hen  gathers  her 
brood.  "^  And  I  am  apt  to  think"  that  a  hen  is  covered  with  feathers. 
However,  I  grant  to  Mr.  T.  that  there  is  a  necessity  of  fallen  nature  : 
according  to  this  necessity  man  is  born  to  die,  and  in  the  mean  time 
he  is  exposed  to  the  troubles  which  naturally  accompany  mortality. 
But  there  are  a  thousand  troubles  which  tlow  from  immorality,  and 
which  God  puts  it  in  man's  power  to  avoid.  To  deny  this,  is  to  deny 
the  following  scriptures  :  He  that  will  love  his  life,  and  see  good  days, 
let  him  refrain  his  tongue  from  evil  : — let  him  eschew  evil,  and  do  good ; 
let  him  seek  peace  and  ensue  it.  1  Pet.  iii.  10,  11. — Whoso  keepeth  his 
mouth  and  his  tongue,  keepeth  his  soul  from  troubles.  Prov.  xxi.  23.  It 
is  therefore  absurd  and  unscriptural  to  suppose,  that  because  we  can- 
not avoid  every  trouble  in  life,  all  canting  gossips  are  absolutely 
hound  to  bring  upon  themselves  all  the  troubles  which  their  slander- 
ous, lying  tongues  pull  down  upon  their  own  heads. 

Fifth  Key,  If  there  occur  in  the  Bible  a  poetical  expression, 
founded  upon  some  common,  though  erroneous  opinion,  to  which  the 
j^acred  penmen  accommodate  their  language  in  condescension  to  the 
vulgar.    Calvinism  fixes  upon  that  expression,  and  produces  it  as  a 


36  REMARKS    ON    MR.    TOPLADY'S    SCHEME 

demonstration  of  what  she  calls  Orthodoxy.     Thus  Mr.  T.  [p.  57.] 
builds  his  scheme  on  the  following  text. 

**  The  stars  in  their  course  fought  against  Sisera.  Judg.  v.  20."  It  is 
as  absurd  to  prove  fatalism  from  these  words,  as  it  would  be  to  prove 
that  the  earth  is  the  fixed  centre  of  our  planetary  system,  by  quoting 
the  above-mentioned  words  of  our  blessed  Lord,  Your  father  makes 
his  sun  to  rise  on  the  just.  The  best  philosophers,  as  well  as  Christ, 
to  be  understood  by  the  common  people,  say,  agreeably  to  a  false 
philosophy.  The  sun  rises,  though  they  know  that  it  is  the  earth  which 
turns  round  on  her  axis  towards  the  fixed  sun.  As,  we  say  The  Crown, 
when  we  mean  the  reigning  king ;  and  put  heaven  for  the  king  of 
heaven;  so  Deborah  poetically  said  in  htr  song.  The  stars  in  their 
courses,  for  the  providential  power  which  keepa  the  planets  in  their 
courses.  Herein  she  probably  adapted  her  language  to  some  false 
notions  of  astrology,  which  the  Israelites  had  received  from  the 
Eg}'ptians.  And  all  that  she  meant  was,  that  God  had  peculiarly 
assisted  the  Israelites  in  their  battle  with  Sisera. 

Sixth  Key :  As  the  Necessitarians  build  their  doctrine  upon  poeti- 
cal expressions,  so  they  do  upon  proverbial  sayings.     Thus, 

Page  88.  Mr.  Toplady  endeavours  to  support  the  doctrine  of  abso- 
lute necessity,  or  of  the  Calvinian  decrees,  by  these  words  of  our 
Lord,  "  lliere  shall  not  a  hair  of  your  head  perish.  Luke  xxi.  18. 
1.  e.  before  the  appointed  time."  But  this  scripture  does  not  prove, 
that  God  from  all  eternity  made  particular  decrees,  to  appoint  that 
men  should  shave  so  many  times  every  week,  and  that  such  and  such 
a  hair  of  our  head  or  beard  should  be  spared  so  long,  or  should  be 
cut  off  after  having  grown  just  so  many  days.  This  text  is  only  apro^ 
verbial  phrase,  like  that  which  is  sometimes  used  among  us,  "  I  will 
not  give  way  to  error  a  hair's  breadth.''^  As  this  expression  means 
only,  "  I  will  fully  resist  error:"  so  the  other  only  means,  "You 
shall  be  fully  protected  :"  therefore  to  build  Calvinian  necessity 
upon  such  a  scripture,  is  to  render  the  pillars  of  Calvinism  as  con- 
temptible as  the  hairs  which  the  barber  wipes  off  his  razor,  when  he 
shaves  my  mistaken  opponent. 

Seventh  Key.  The  word  shall  frequently  implies  a  kind  of  necessity, 
and  a  forcible  authority  :  Thus,  a  master  says  to  his  arguing  servant, 
"  Y^i  shall  do  such  a  thing  :  I  will  make  you  do  it,  whether  you  will 
or  not."  Mr.  T'oplady  avails  himself  of  this  idea  to  impose  his 
scheme  of  necessity  upon  the  ignoi^ant.  I  say  upon  the  ignorant, 
because  he  quotes  again  and  again  passages  where  the  word  shall 
has  absolutely  no  place  in  the  original.     For  example, 


OP    PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  37 

Pp.  84,  87,  92.  he  tries  to  prove,  that  Christ  was  *•  an  absolute 
Necessitarian,"  by  the  following  texts.  ^^  I  send  unto  you  prophets, 
&c.  and  some  of  them  ye  shall  kill^  and  some  of  them  shall  ye  scourge  . 
One  of  you,  &c.  shall  betray  me. — Ye  all  shall  be  offended  because  of 
me. — Other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of  this  fold  :  them  also''^  [from  a 
principle  of  superior  kindness,  or  of  remunerative  favour]  *'  /  must 
bring  :  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice. — 1  must,  and  they  shall.  What 
is  this  but  double  necessity  ?"  In  these,  and  in  many  such  scriptures, 
the  word  ye  shall  kill,  &c.  in  the  original  is  a  bare  future  tense  : 
And  for  want  of  such  a  tense  in  English,  we  are  obliged  to  render  the 
words  which  are  in  that  tense  by  means  of  the  words  shall  or  will. 
These  auxiliary  words  are  often  used  indiscriminately  by  our  trans  ■ 
lators,  who  might  as  well  in  the  preceding  texts  have  rendered  the 
Greek  verbs  will  kill — will  scourge — wi*.l  betray — will  be  offended 
—will  hear  my  voice.  Therefore,  to  rest  Calvinism  upon  such  vague 
proofs,  is  to  rest  it  upon  a  defect  in  the  English  language,  and  upon  the 
presumption  that  the  reader  is  perfectly  unacquainted  with  the  original. 

Eighth  Key.  As  Mr.  T.'s  scheme  partly  rests  upon  a  supposition 
that  his  readers  are  unacquainted  with  the  Greek  grammar,  so  it  sup- 
poses that  they  are  perfect  strangers  to  ancient  geography.  Hence 
it  is  that  he  says,  p.  89.  "  Our  Lord  knew  her  [the  woman  of  Sama- 
ria] to  be  one  of  his  elect : — And  that  she  might  be  converted  pre- 
cisely at  the  very  time  appointed,  He  must  needs  go  through  the  terri- 
tory of  Samaria,  John  ir.  4."  Mr.  Whitefield  builds  his  peculiar 
orthodoxy  on  the  same  slender  foundations,  where  he  says,  *'  Whv 
must  Christ  needs  go  thrpugh  Samaria  ? — Because  there  was  a  woman 
to  be  converted  there."  See  his  works,  Vol.  iv.  p.  356.  Now  the: 
plain  reason  why  our  Lord  went  through  Samaria  was,  that  be  went 
from  Jerusalem  to  Galilee  ;  and  as  Samaria  lies  exactly  between 
Judea  and  Galilee,  he  must  needs  go  through  Samaria,  or  go  a  great 
many  miles  out  of  his  way.  Absurdity  itself  therefore  could  hardly 
have  framed  a  more  absurd  argument. 

JVinth  Key.  One  of  the  most  common  mistakes,  on  which  the  Cal- 
vinists  found  their  doctrine,  is  confounding  a  necessity  of  consequence 
with  an  absolute  necessity.  A  necessity  of  consequence  is  the  neces- 
sary connexion  which  immediate  causes  have  with  their  effects — 
immediate  effeets  with  their  causes — and  unavoidable  consequences 
with  their  premises.  Thus,  if  you  run  a  man  through  the  heart 
with  a  sword,  by  necessity  of  natural  consequence  he  must  die  :  and  if 
you  are  caught,  and  convicted  of  having  done  it  like  an  assassin,  by 
necessity  of  legal  consequence  you  must  die — Thus  again,  if  I  hold 
that  God  from  all  eternity  absolutely  fixed  his  everlasting  love  upon 


38 

some  men,  and  his  everla&ting  wrath  upon  others,  without  any  re- 
spect to  their  works  :  by  necessity  of  logical  consequence,  1  must 
hold,  that  the  former  were  never  children  of  wrath,  and  must  con- 
tinue God's  pleasant  children,  while  they  commit  the  most  atrocious 
crimes  ;  and  that  the  latter  were  children  of  wrath,  while  they  semi- 
nally  existed  together  with  the  man  Christ  in  the  loins  of  sinless 
Adam  before  the  fall. 

Is'ow  thfrse  three  strong  necessities  of  consequence  do  not  amount  to 
one  grain  of  Calvinian  absolute  necessity  :  hernuse  though  the  above- 
mentioned  effects  and  consequenct  s  necessririly  follow  from  their 
causes  and  premises,  yet  those  caust^s  and  premises  are  not  abso- 
lutely necessary.  To  be  more  plain  :  Though  a  man,  whom  you 
run  through  the  heart  to  rob  him  without  opposition,  must  die  ;  and 
though  you  must  suffer  as  a  murderer  for  your  crime,  yet  this  dou- 
ble necessity  does  not  prove  that  yon  were  absolutely  necessitated 
'to  go  on  the  highway,  and  to  murder  the  man.  Again  :  Though  you 
must  [indirectly  at  least]  propagate  the  most  detestable  error  of  Manes, 
[i.  e.  the  worship  of  a  double-principled  Deitv]  if  you  preach  a  God 
made  up  of  absolute,  everlasting  love  to  some,  and  of  absolute,  ever- 
lasting wrath  to  others,  yet  you  are  not  necessitated  to  do  this  black 
work  ;  because  you  are  by  no  means  necessitated  to  embrace  and 
propagate  this  black  principle  of  Calvin.  — Once  more  ;  By  necessity 
of  consequence,  a  weak  man  who  drinks  to  excess  is  drunk  ;  yet  his 
drunkenness  is  not  Calvinistically  necessary  ;  because  though  the  man 
cannot  help  being  drunk  if  he  drinks  to  excess,  yet  he  can  help  drink- 
ing to  excess  :  or,  to  speak  in  general  terms,  though  he  cannot  pre- 
vent the  ej^ect  when  he  has  admitted  the  cause  ;  yet  he  can  prevent 
the  effect  by  not  admitting  the  cause.  However,  Mr,  Toplady,  with- 
out adverting  to  this  obvious  and  important  distinction,  takes  it  for 
granted  that  his  readers  will  subscribe  to  his  doctrine  of  absolute 
necessity,  because  a  variety  of  scriptures  assert  such  a  necessity  of 
consequence  as  I  have  just  explained.     Take  the  following  instances. 

P.  83.  "  How  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of  hell?''''  These  words 
of  Christ  do  not  prove  Calvinian  reprobation  and  absolute  necessity  ; 
but  only  that  those,  who  will  obstinately  go  on  in  sin,  shall  [by  necessity 
of  consequence']  infallibly  meet  with  the  damnation  of  hell. — P.  91. 
''  If  the  Son  shall  make  you  free^^  [and  he  shall  make  us  free,  if  we 
will  continue  in  his  word]  '*  ye  shair  [by  necessity  of  consequence] 
"  be  free  indeed."" — Again,  p.  92.  "  Why  do  ye  not  understand  my 
speech  ?  Even  because""  [whilst  you  hug  your  prejudices]  "  ye  cannot 
hear  my  word,"  {w\{\i  the  least  degree  of  candour]  This  passage 
does  not  prove  Calvinian  necessity  ;  it  declares  only,  that  while  th^ 


or   PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  39 

Jews  were  biased  by  thp  love  of  honour,  rather  than  by  the  love  oi' 
truth,  by  necessity  of  consequence,  they  could  nut  cnndiilly  hear,  and 
cordially  receive  Christ's  humbhng  doctrine.  Thus  he  said  to  them, 
How  can  ye  believe,  m-ho  receive  honour  one  of  another  ? 

Ibid.  "  He  that  is  of  God  heare.th  God's  words  ;  ye  therefore  hear 
them  not,  because  ye  are  not  ofGod^ — Here  is  no  Calvinism,  hut  only 
a  plain  declaration,  that,  by  nece<inty  of  consequence,  no  man  can  serve 
two  masters  :  no  man  can  ijlidly  receive  the  truths  of  God  who 
gladly  receives  the  lies  of  Sat.m.  —  Ibid.  "  Ye  believe  not,  because  ye 
are  not  of  my  sheep.''^  That  is.  You  eagerly  follow  the  prince  of 
darkness  :  The  zcorks  nf  your  father,  the  devil,  ye  vcill^  do:  and  there- 
fore by  necessity  of  consequence,  ye  cannot  do  the  works  of  God  : — 
ye  cannot  follow  me  : — ye  cannot  rank  amona;  my  sheep.     Again  : 

P'.  93.  "  /  give  my  sheep  eternal  life,  and  they  shall  never  perish, 
John  X.  28.  i.  e.  Their  salvation  is  necessary,  and  cannot  be  hin- 
dered."— True  :  It  is  necessary,  but  it  is  only  so  by  necessity  of  conse- 
quence ;  for  damnation  follows  unbelief  and  disobedience  as  punish- 
ment does  sin;  and  eternal  salvation  follows  faith  and  obedience  as 
rexvards  follow  good  works.  But  this  no  more  proves  that  God  ne- 
cessitates men  to  sin  or  to  obey,  than  hanging  a  deserter,  and  reward- 
ing a  courageous  soldier,  prove  that  the  former  was  absolutely  neces- 
sitated to  desert,  and  the  latter  to  play  the  hero. — Once  more. 

P.  94.  '•  /  will  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you  another  Com- 
forter, whom  the  world  caknot  receive,^'' — [as  a  Comforter,  \vithout  a 
proper  preparation.]  Now  this  no  more  proves  that  the  world  cannot 
absolutely  receive  the  Comforter,  than  my  asserting,  that  Mr.  Toplady 
eould  not  take  a  degree  at  the  University,  before  he  had  learned 
grammar,  proves  that  he  was  for  ever  absolutely  debarred  from  that 
literary  honour.  If  the  reader  be  pleased  to  advert  to  this  distinction 
between  a  necessity  of  consequence  and  absolute  necessity,  he  will  be 
able  to  steer  safe  through  a  thousand  Calvinian  rocks. 

Tenth  Key.  The  preceding  remark  leads  us  to  the  detection  of 
another  capital  mistake  of  the  orthodox,  so  called.  They  perpetually 
confound  natural  necessity  with  what  may  (improperly  speaking)  be 
called  MORAL  necessity.  By  natural  necessity  infants  are  born  naked, 
and  colts  are  foaled  with  a  coat  on ;  men  have  two  legs,  horses  four, 
and  some  insects  sixteen.  And  by  moral  necessity  servants  are  bound 
to  obey  their  masters,  children  their  parents,  and  subjects  their  king. 

*  Our  Lord,  when  he  spake  these  words,'dicl  not  use  a  bare  future  TrotHaririj  which  Mr 
T.  would  perhaps  have  triumphantly  translated  ye  shall  do;  putting  the  word  shall  in 
large  capitals;  but  SiKin  voiuv,  a  phrase  this  which  is  peculiarly  expressive  of  the  obsti 
nate  choice  of  \\iG  free-vnlling;  .^c\\< 


40  REMARKS  ON  MRi  TOPLADY'S  SCHEME 

Now  can  any  thing  be  more  unreasonable  than  to  infer  that  servants 
can  no  more  help  obeying  their  masters,  than  children  can  help  being 
born  with  two  hands  ?- — Is  it  not  absurd  thus  to  confound  natural  and 
moral  necessity  ?  This  however  Mr.  T.  frequently  does;  witness  the 
following  scriptures,  which  he  produces  in  defence  of  absolute 
necessity. 

Page  62,  &;c.  *'//e  [the  Lord]  made  a  decree  for  the  rain,  and  a  way 
for  the  lightning  of  the  thunder. — By  the  breath  of  God  frost  is  given. 
Joe. — He  maketh  grass  to  grow. — He  giveth  snow  like  wool :  He  scatter- 
eth  the  hoarfrost  like  ashes  : — Who  can  stand  before  his  cold  ? — He  causeth 
his  wind  to  blow. — Fire  and  hail,  snow  and  vapour ^  ^c.  fulfil  his  word. 
Ps."  From  these  and  the  like  scriptures,  Mr.  T.  infers,  that  all 
things  happen  "  by  a  necessity  resulting  from  the  will  and  providence 
of  the  supreme  First  Cause  ?" 

That  nothing  happens  independently  on  that  Cause,  and  on  the 
providential  laws  which  God  has  established,  we  grant.  But  this 
does  not  prove  at  all  the  Calvinian  necessity  of  «//  our  actions.  Nor 
does  it  prove  that  man,  who  is  made  in  God's  image,  cannot,  within 
his  narrow  sphere,  frequently  exert  his  delegated  power  at  his  own 
option,  b}'  making  and  executing  his  own  decrees. 

If  Mr.  T.  denies  it,  I  appeal  to  his  own  experience  and  candour. 
Can  he  not,  by  a  good  fire,  reverse,  in  his  apartment,  God's  decree  of 
frost  in  winter  ;  and  by  a  candle,  can  he  not  in  his  room  reverse  God's 
decree  of  darkness  at  midnight?  Can  he  not  by  icy,  cooling  draughts^ 
elude  the  decree  of  heat  in  summer  ? — Nay,  cannot  a  gardener,  by 
skilfully  distributing  heat  to  vegetables  in  a  hot-house,  force  a  pine- 
apple to  ripen  to  perfection  in  the  midst  of  winter  ?  And,  by  means 
of  a  watering-pot,  can  he  not  command  an  artificial  rain  to  water  his 
drooping  plants  in  the  greatest  drought  of  summer  ?— Again  :  Cannot 
a  philosopher,  acquainted  with  the  secret  laws  of  nature,  imitate,  as 
often  as  he  pleases,  most  decrees  of  the  God  of  nature  ?  Can  be  not 
form  and  collect  dews,  by  raising  artificial  vapours  in  an  alembic  ? 
Can  he  not,  when  he  has  a  mind,  cause  diminutive  thunder  and  light- 
ning by  means  of  an  electrical  machine?  Can  he  not  create  ice,  snow, 
and  hoarfroast.  by  nitrous  salts  ?  Can  he  not  produce  little  earth- 
quakes, by  burying  in  the  ground  iron-fihngs  and  sulphur  mixed  with 
water  ?  And  whilst  he  raises  a  wind  by  managing  a  communication  of 
rarified  air  with  condensed  air,  cannot  a  smith  do  it  without  half  the 
trouble  by  working  his  bellows  ? — Once  more  :  Cannot  a  physician 
do  in  the  little  world  within  you,  what  a  philosopher  does  without  you 
in  the  world  of  nature  ?  By  availing  himself  of  some  natural  law,  is 
it  not  in  general  as  much  in  his  power,  if  you  submit  to  his  decrees^  to 


OF  PHILOSOPHICAL  KECESSITY.  41 

raise  an  artificial  blister  on  your  back,  as  it  is  in  your  gardener's  to 
raise  a  sallad  in  your  garden  ?  By  skilfully  setting  the  powers  of 
nature  at  work,  can  he  not  cleanse  your  intestines,  as  yonder  firmer 
scours  his  ditches  ?  Can  he  not,  in  general,  assuage  your  pains  by 
lenitives,  or  lull  them  asleep  by  opiates  ? — ^Can  he  not,  through  his 
acquaintance  with  the  means  by  which  God  preserves  the  animal 
world,  often  promote  the  secretion  of  your  fluids,  and  supply  the 
want  of  those  which  are  exhausted  ?  Nay,  can  you  not  do  it  yourself, 
by  using  that  cheap  medicine,  exercise  ;  and  by  taking  those  agreeable 
boluses  and  pleasant  draughts  which  you  call  meat  and  drink?  To  say 
that  nature  cannot  be,  in  many  respects,  assisted,  and  even  improved 
by  art,  is  to  say,  that  there  are  neither  houses  nor  cities  in  the  world  ; 
neither  shoes  on  our  feet,  nor  clothes  on  our  back.  And  to  affirm, 
that  the  works  of  art  are  as  absolutely  necessary  as  the  works  of 
nature,  is  to  confound  JVature  and  Art,  and  to  advance  one  of  the  most 
monstrous  paradoxes  that  ever  disgraced  human  reason. 

Eleventh  Key.  Confusion  reigns  in  every  corner  of  Babel. 
Another  capital  mistake  of  the  Necessitarians  consists  in  their  con- 
founding Prophetic  certainty  with  Absolute  necessity.  An  illustration 
will  explain  my  meaning. 

Mr.  Toplady  discovers  a  boy  who  is  obstinately  bent  upon  <heft. 
From  his  kilowledge  of  the  force  of  indulged  habits,  he  foresees  and 
foretells  that  the  boy  will  one  day  come  to  the  gallows  :  and  his  pre- 
diction is  fultilled.  The  question  is,  did  Mr.  T.'s  foresight,  or  his 
prophecy  necessitate  the  thievish  boy  to  indulge  his  wicked  habit  ;  and 
might  not  that  boy  have  done  like  many  more  ?  Might  he  not  have 
reformed,  and  died  in  his  bed  ?  Calvinism  answers  in  the  negative,  but 
Reason  and  Scripture  agree  to  declare,  that  a  clear  foresight  and  a 
bare  prophecy,  are  not  of  an  absolutely  necessitating  nature  ;  and 
that,  of  consequence,  it  is  as  absurd  to  confound  absolute  necessity  with 
certainty  of  prophecy  (if  I  may  use  this  expression)  as  it  is  to  confound 
the  free  abode  of  the  keepers  in  Newgate  with  the  necessary  abode  of 
the  felons  who  are  confined  there  under  bars  and  locks  ; — in  a  word, 
it  is  as  absurd  as  to  confound  the  necessity  of  an  event,  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  it.  Your  awkward  servant  has,  at  various  times,  broken  you 
a  number  of  China  plates  :  That  the  plates  are  broken  is  certain,  but 
that  they  were  Calvinistically  broken,  i.  e.  that  your  servant  could  no 
zmys  avoid  breaking  them  all,  precisely  in  the  manner,  place,  and 
instant,  in  which  they  were  broken,  is  a  proposition  as  absurd  as  the 
proof  which  Mr.  T.  [page  85]  draws  from  the  following  sentences  of 
Scriptures  tp  demonstrate  that  our  Lord  was  Calvinistically  necessi- 
tated to  lay  down  his  life  for  us:  "  How  then  shall  the  Scriptures  be 

Vol.  IV.  6 


42  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY'S  SCHEME 

fulfilled,  that  thus  it  must  he?  Matt.  xxvi.  64. — All  this  was  done,  that 
the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets  might  be  fulfilled,  verse  56."  To  do 
these  passages  justice,  we  should  consider  three  things  : 

1.  The  necessity  of  fulfilling  the  Scriptures,  with  respect  to  our 
Lord,  could  never  amount  to  the  least  degree  of  absolute,  Calviniau 
necessity  ;  for  our  Lord  was  no  more  obliged  to  give  us  the  Scrip- 
tures in  order  to  fulfil  them,  than  Mr.  T.  is  bound  to  give  me  a 
thousand  pounds  in  order  to  get  my  thanks. 

2.  When  we  meet  with  such  sayings  as  these,  This  that  is  written 
must  yet  be  accomplished  in  me : — The  Scripture  must  be  fulfilled,  &c. 
if  they  relate  to  Christ,  they  only  indicate  a  necessity  of  resolution,  if 
I  may  use  this  expression.  Now  a  necessity  of  resolution  is  the  very 
reverse  of  absolute  necessity  ;  because  a  resolution  is  the  offspring  of 
free  will,  and  may  be  altered  by  free  will ;  whereas  Calvinian  neces- 
sity never  admits  of  a  liberty  or  power  to  do  a  thing  otherwise  than 
it  is  done,  I  resolve  to  go  out  this  evening,  and  I  write  my  resolution, 
but  this  does  not  imply  any  absolute  necessity  :  first,  because  I  am  at 
perfect  liberty  not  to  make  such  a  resolution,  and  secondly,  because  I 
am  at  perfect  liberty  to  break  it,  and  I  shall  certainly  do  it,  if  some 
sufficient  reason  detains  me  at  home. 

Take  a  nobler  example  :  God  resolved  to  give  Abraham  and  his 
seed  the  land  of  Canaan  for  a7i  everlasting  possession,  and  the  divine 
resolution  is  written,  Gen.  xvii.  8,  and  xlviii.  4.  But  this  does  not 
imply  the  least  degree  of  Calvinian  necessity :  for,  1.  Reason  dictates 
that  God  was  no  ways  obliged  to  form  such  a  resolution  ;  and  2. 
Experience  teaches  us,  that  the  obstinacy  of  the  Jews  has  obliged  him 
to  make  them  know  the  breach  of  his  written  resolution.  Numb.  xiv. 
34.  Accordingly  they  are  scattered  over  all  the  world,  instead  of 
enjoying  the  promised  land /or  an  everlasting  possession. 

3.  When  prophetical  sayings  refer  to  the  wicked,  as  in  the  follow- 
ing texts,  '  This  cometh  to  pass,  that  the  word  might  be  fulfilled,  which 
is  written  in  the  law  ;  They  hated  me  without  a  cause. — The  son  of  per- 
dition is  lost,  that  the  Scripture  might  he  fulfilled. — They  believed  not  on 
him,  that  the  saying  of  Esaias  might  be  fulfilled :  Lord,  who  has  believed 
our  report? — These  and  the  like  passages  denote  only  'a  prophetic 
necessity,  founded  upon  God's  bare  foresight  of  what  will  be  ;  but 
might  as  well  [nay  better]  have  been  otherwise.  Thus  I  prophesy, 
that  through  logical  necessity  I  shall  [in  full  opposition  to  ortho- 
graphical necessity]  put  a  colon,  instead  of  a  full  point,  at  the  end  of 
the  paragrnph  I  am  now  writing.  But  this  double  necessity  of 
prophecy  and  logic  is  so  far  from  absolutely  necessitating  me,  that  I 
have  almost  a  mind  to  follow  the  rules  of  punctuation,  and  to  show 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY.  43 

by  this  mean  that  I  am  as  much  at  liberty  to  reverse  my  prophetic^ 
logical  decree,  as  God  was  to  reverse  his  prophetic,  vi7idictive  decree ^ 
Yetforhj  days  and  Nineveh  shall  be  destroyed  [:] 

However,  my  decree  is  accomplished.  What  was  an  hour  ago  a 
future  contingency,  is  now  matter  of  fact.  The  preceding  period  is 
concluded  without  a  full  point  as  certainly  as  God  exists.  Should  Mr. 
T.  object  that  I  could  foresee  this  contingent  event,  because  I  had  a 
mind  to  bring  it  about  ;  I  reply  that  this  does  not  invalidate  my 
proof:  For,  1.  1  foresaw  this  little  event  as  contingent,  and  depend- 
ing on  my  liberty,  and  of  consequence  I  could  not  foresee  it  as  abso- 
lutely necessary. — 2.  I  have  a  clear  foresight  of  many  things  in 
which  I  have  no  hand  at  all.  Thus  I  foresee  that  a  man  condemned 
to  be  hanged  for  murder,  shall  certainly  be  hanged,  whether  I  do  the 
executioner's  office  or  not.  Though  the  murderer  might  be  reprieved  ; 
though  he  might  make  his  escape,  or  poison  himself  before  the  day  of 
execution  ;  yet,  from  my  knowledge  of  the  law,  of  the  king's  aversion 
to  murder,  of  the  strength  of  the  prison,  and  of  the  particular  care 
taken  of  condemned  criminals,  my  foreknowledge  that  the  condemned 
murderer  shall  be  hanged  amounts  to  a  very  high  degree  of  cer- 
tainty. Now,  if  I,  whose  foreknowledge,  compared  to  the  foreknow- 
ledge of  God,  is  no  more  than  a  point  to  the  infinity  of  space  ; — If  I, 
who  am  so  short-sighted,  can  with  such  a  degree  of'certainty  foresee 
an  event  which  is  not  absolutely  necessary  ;  is  it  not  absurd,  1  had 
almost  said  impious,  to  suppose  that  God's  foreknowledge  of  events, 
which  are  not  absolutely  necessary,  may  not  amount  to  absolute  neces- 
sity? Cannot  God  foresee  future  events  without  necessitating  them, 
a  thousand  times  more  clearly  than  I  can  foresee  what  1  am  sure  I 
shall  not  ordain,  much  less  necessitate;  namely,  that  Mr.  T.'s  preju- 
dice will  hinder  him  from  treating  Mr.  W.  with  the  respect  due  to  an 
aged  laborious  minister  of  Christ  ? 

To  deny  that  God's  certain  knowledge  of  future  events  is  consistent 
with  our  liberty,  because  we  cannot  understand  how  God  can  cer- 
tainly foresee  the  variations  of  our  free  will  ; — to  deny  this,  I  say,  is 
to  deny  the  existence  of  all  the  things  which  we  cannot  fully  compre- 
hend. And  at  this  rate,  what  is  it  that  we  shall  not  deny  ?  What  is 
it  that  we  perfectly  understand?  Is  there  one  man  in  ten  thousand, 
that  understands  how  astronomers  can  certainly  foretell  the  very 
instant  in  which  an  eclipse  will  begin  ?  But  does  this  ignorance  of 
the  vulgar  render  astronomical  calculations  less  real  or  certain  ?  And 
may  not  God  [by  the  good  leave  of  the  Necessitarians]  surpass  all 
men  in  his  foreknowledge  of  the  actions  of  free  agents,  as  mucli  as 


44  REMARKS    ON    MR.    TOPLADY's    SCHEME 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  surpassed  all  the  Hottentots  in  his  foreknowledge  of 
eclipses  ? 

From  these  remarks  it  appears,  that  all  the  difficulties  which  the 
Calvinists  have  raised,  with  respect  to  the  consistency  of  divine  fore- 
knozdedge  and  human  free  mil,  arise  from  two  mistakes  :  the  first  of 
which  consists  in  supposing,  that  the  simple,  certain  knowledge  of  an 
event,  whether  past,  present  or  future,  is  necessarily  connected  with 
a  peculiar  influence  on  that  event :  and  the  second  consists  in  measur- 
ing God's  foreknowledge  by  our  own,  and  supposing,  that  because  we 
cannot  prophesy  with  absolute  certainty,  what  free-willing  creatures 
will  do  to-morrow,  therefore  God  cannot  do  it.  A  conclusion  this, 
which  is  as  absurd  as  the  following  argument :  "  We  cannot  create  a 
a;rain  of  sand,  nor  comprehend  feow  God  could  create  it,  and  therefore 
God  could  neither  create  a  grain  of  sand,  nor  comprehend  how  it  was 
to  be  created." 

I  have  dwelt  so  long  upon  this  head,  because  it  is  the  strong  hold  of 
the  Calvinists,  from  which  Mr.  T.  seems  to  bid  defiance  to  every 
argument,  witness  his  assertion,  p.  80.  "  Foreknowledge ^  undarkened 
by  the  least  shadow  of  ignorance^  and  superior  to  all  possibility  of 
mistake,  is  a  link  which  draws  invincible  necessity  after  it." — To  the 
preceding  arguments,  which,  I  trust,  fully  prove  the  contrary,  I  shall 
add  one  more,  which  is  founded  on  the  plain  words  of  Scripture. 

So  sure  as  the  Bible  is  true,  Mr.  T.  is  mistaken  ;  and  God's  fore- 
knowledge, far  from  being  connected  with  "  invincible  necessity,'''*  may 
exist,  not  only  with  respect  to  an  event  which  is  not  necessary,  but 
also  with  respect  to  an  event  which  is  so  contingent,  that  it  never 
comes  to  pass  :  take  a  proof  of  it. 

We  read,  1  Sam.  xxiii.  10 — 12,  that  David,  while  he  was  in  the 
city  of  Keilah,  heard  that  Saul  designed  to  come  and  surprise  him 
there.  Then  said  David,  0  Lord  God  of  Israel,  &:c.  Will  Saul  come 
down,  as  thy  servant  has  heard  ?  And  the  Lord  said,  He  will  come 
DOWN.  Tlien  David  said,  Will  the  men  of  Keilah  deliver  me — into  the 
hand  of  Saul  ?  And  the  Lord  said.  They  will  deliver  thee  up. 
When  David  had  received  this  double  information,  he  went  out  of 
Keilah,  and  when  Saul  heard  it,  he  did  not  come  to  Keilah,  neither 
did  the  men  of  Keilah  deliver  him  to  Saul.  From  this  remarkable 
occurrence  we  learn  :  1.  That  future  contingent  events  are  clearly 
seen  of  God  :  2.  That  this  foresight  of  God  has  not  the  least  influence 
on  such  events  :  3.  That  God  can  foretell  such  events  as  contingent : 
and  4.  That  neither  Scripture  Prophecy,  nor  divine  foreknowledge, 
have  the  least  connexion  with  Mr.  T.'s  scheme  of  absolute,  invincible 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY.  43 

necessity;  since  God  foreknew,  that  if  David  staid  in  Keilah,  Saul- 
would  come  down,  and  the  men  of  Keilah,  would  deliver  David  into 
his  hands.  But  so  far  was  this  clear  foreknowledge,  and  peremptory 
prophecy  of  God,  from  "  drawing  invmcihlc  necessity  after"  them,  that 
Saul  did  not  come  to  Keilah  :  neither  did  the  men  of  Keilah  deliver 
David  into  his  hands.  I  flatter  myself,  that,  if  the  reader  attend  to 
these  arguments,  he  will  see  that  Mr.  T.'s  doctrine  of  an  ahsolute 
connexion  between  the  certain  foreknowledge  of  events  and  their 
invincible  necessity^  is  contradicted  by  experience,  reason,  and  Scrip- 
ture. 

Twelfth  Key.  Because  no  child  can  help  being  born,  when  the 
last  pang  of  his  mother  forces  him  into  the  light ;  and  because  no  man 
can  possibly  live,  when  the  last  pang  of  death  forces  his  soul  into 
eternity,  the  Necessitarians  conclude,  that  our  every  intermediate 
action,  from  our  birth  to  our  death,  is  irresistibly  brought  about  by 
the  iron  hands  of  necessity.  But  is  not  their  conclusion  as  absurd  as 
the  following  argument  :  *'  John  the  Baptist  could  not  speak  when  he 
was  newly  born,  nor  could  he  do  it,  when  the  executioner  had  cut  off 
his  head  :  absolute  necessity  hindered  him  from  forming  articulate 
sounds  in  the  moment  of  his  birth,  and  at  the  instant  of  his  death  ; 
and  therefore,  all  the  days  of  his  life  absolute  necessity  made  him 
move  his  tongue  when  he  spake  ?"  Let  us  see  how  Mr.  T.  handles 
this  wonderful  argument. 

Pp.  102,  110.  "Birth  and  death  are  the  asra  and  the  period, 
whose  interval  constitutes  the  thread  of  man's  visible  existence  on 
earth.  Let  us  examine  whether  those  important  extremes  be,  or  be 
not,  unalterably  fixed  by  the  necessitating  providence  of  God" — And 
by  and  by  we  are  asked  :  *'  If  the  initial  point  from  whence  we  start, 
and  the  ultimate  goal  which  terminates  our  race,  be  divinely  and 
unchangeably  fixed  ;  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  any  free  will, 
but  the  free  will  of  Deity  alone,  may  fabricate  the  intermediate  links 
of  the  chain?" — That  is,  in  plain  English,  "Does  not  God  alone 
fabricate  our  every  action,  good  or  bad,  from  our  cradle  to  our 
grave  ?" 

Page  107,  &c.  Mr.  T.  produces  such  scriptures  as  these,  to  prove 
that  the  free  will  of  Deity  alone  fabricates  the  link  of  our  birth. 
'^  He  [Jacob]  said,  Am  I  in  God''s  stead  to  give  [a  barren  woman]  chil 
dren  ? — They  are  my  sons,  whom  God  has  given  me. — Thy  hands  have 
made  me  and  fashioned  me. — TIiou  art  He  that  took  me  out  of  the  womb. 
— Lo,  children  are  an  heritage  of  the  Lord. — Thou  hast  covered  me,  &c. 
oi   my  mother^s  womb. — In   thy  book  all  my  members  were  written'''' — 


•i6 

**  God  has  fixed  an  exact  point  of  time,  for  the  accomplishment  of  all 
his  decrees  :  among  which  fixed  and  exact  points  of  time,  are  a  time 
to  be  born,  and  a  time  to  die.^^ 

All  these  passages  prove  only,  1.  That  when  a  woman  is  naturally 
barren,  like  Rachel  or  Sarah,  an  extraordinary  interposition  of  God's 
providence  is  necessary  to  render  her  fruitful  : — 2.  That  the  fruitful- 
ness  of  women,  as  that  of  our  fields,  is  a  gift  of  God  : — 3.  That  chil- 
dren grow  in  the  womb,  and  come  to  the  birth,  according  to  the  pecu- 
liar energy  of  those  laws,  which  God,  as  the  God  of  nature,  has 
made  for  the  propagation  of  animals  in  general,  and  of  man  in  parti- 
cular : — And,  4.  That  as  there  is  a  time  to  be  born,  namely,  in  general 
nine  months  after  conception  ;  so  there  is  a  time  to  die,  which  in  the 
present  state  of  the  world,  is  seventy  or  eighty  years  after  our  na- 
tivity ;  if  no  peculiar  event  or  circumstance  hastens  nor  retards  our 
birth  and  our  death. 

That  this  is  the  genuine  meaning  of  the  scriptures  produced  by  Mr. 
T.,  I  prove  by  the  following  arguments. 

1.  God  could  never  Calvinistically  appoint  the  birth  of  aZ/  children, 
without  Calvinistically  appointing  their  conception,  and  every  mean 
conducive  thereto  :  Whence  it  undeniably  follows,  that  [if  Calvinism 
is  true]  he  absolutely  appointed,  yea  necessitated,  all  the  adulteries 
and  whoredoms,  with  all  the  criminal  intrigues  and  sinful  lusts  of  the 
flesh,  which  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  birth  of  base-born 
children.  Now  this  doctrine  makes  God  the  grand  author  of  all 
those  crimes,  and  represents  him  as  the  most  inconsistent  of  all  law- 
givers :  since,  by  his  moral  decrees,  he  forbids,  and  by  his  Cal- 
vinian  decrees,  he  enjoins  whoredom  and  adultery,  in  order  to  fabri- 
cate the  link  of  the  birth  of  every  bastard  child. 

2.  The  experience  of  thousands  of  virgins  shows,  that  by  keeping 
themselves  single,  they  may  prevent  the  birth  of  a  multitude  of  chil- 
dren ;  and  their  parents  may  do  it  too,  for  St.  Paul  says,  He  that  stand- 
eth  steadfast  in  his  heart,  having  no  [moral]  necessity  [from  his  daugh- 
ter's constitution,  or  his  own  low  circumstances]  but  hath  power  over 
his  own  will,  and  hath  so  decreed  in  his  heart,  that  he  will  keep 
his  virgin,  doth  well. 

3.  If  women  have  conceived,  by  their  carelessness  or  cruelty  they 
frequently  may  so  oppose  one  law  of  nature  to  another,  as  to  reverse 
the  decree  of  nature  concerning  the  maturity  of  the  fruit  of  the  womb  : 
Nor  can  Mr.  T.  avoid  the  force  of  this  conclusion  otherwise  than  by 
saying,  that  God  necessitates  such  cruel  mothers  to  destroy  their  un- 
born children,  to  fulfil  the  absolute  decree  which  condemns  their  un- 
happy embryos  to  come  to  birth. 


OP  PHILOSOPHICAL  NECESSITY.  47 

When  Mr.  T.  has  tried  to  prove  that  God  has  Calvinistically  ap- 
pointed the  birth  of  all  children,  he  tries  to  demonstrate,  that  the 
manner,  moment,  and  circumstances  of  every  body's  death  are  so 
absolutely  fixed,  that  no  man  can  possibly  live  longer  or  shorter  than 
he  does.     These  are  some  of  his  arguments. 

Page  110,  "  T7ie  time  drew  near  that  Israel  must  die,  Gen.  xlvii. 
20." — Yes,  he  must  die  by  necessity  of  consequence  :  for  he  was  quite 
worn  out ;  his  age,  which  is  mentioned  in  the  preceding  verse,  being 
147  years.  We  never  dream  that  old,  decrepit  men  are  immortal. 
Again  : 

Pp.  111,113.  "  /s  there  not  an  appointed  time  to  man  upon  earth  ? 
— In  whose  hand  is  the  soul  of  every  living  thing. — Man^s  days  <fre 
determined ;  the  number  of  his  months  is  zvith  thee  :  Thou  hast  appointed 
his  bounds,  which  he  cannot  pass, — All  the  days  of  my  appointed  time 
will  I  wait,  till  my  change  come.  Job  vii.  1.  xiv.  5 — 14. — Which  of  you 
by  taking  thought  can  add  one  cubit  to  his  term  of  life  ?  Matt.  vi.  27.'* 
— None  of  these  scriptures  prove,  that  the  free  will  of  Deity  alone  has 
absolutely  fabricated  the  link  of  every  man's  death.  They  only 
indicate,  1.  That  God  has  fixed  general  bounds  to  the  life  of  vege- 
tables and  animals :  For,  as  the  aloe  vegetates  an  hundred  years  :  so 
wheat  vegetates  scarce  twelve  months ;  And  as  men  in  general  lived 
seven  or  eight  hundred  years  before  the  flood  :  so  now  the  days  of 
our  life  are  threescore  years,  and  ten ;  and  if,  by  reason  of  strength, 
they  are  fourscore  years,  yet  is  their  strength  then  but  labour  and  sorrow, 
so  soon  passeth  it  away,  and  we  are  gone,  Ps.  xc.  10.  2.  That  as  no 
man  lived  a  thousand  years  before  the  flood  :  so  no  man  lives  two 
hundred  years  now  :  And,  3.  That,  when  we  are  about  to  die  by 
necessity  of  consequence,  &c.  we  cannot,  without  an  extraordinary 
interposition  of  Providence,  suspend  the  effect  of  this  general  decree, 
Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shall  thou  return.  But  to  infer  from  such 
passages,  that  we  cannot  in  general  shorten  our  days  by  not  taking  a 
proper  care  of  ourselves,  or  by  running  headlong  into  danger,  is  act- 
ing over  again  the  part  of  the  old  deceiver,  who  said,  "  Cast  thyself 
down'''  (from  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple)  '^for  it  is  written,^''  &c. 
From  such  Turkish  philosophy,  and  murderous  conclusions,  God  de- 
liver weak,  unwary  readers  ! 

Two  arguments  will,  I  hope,  abundantly  prove  the  falsity  of  this 
doctrine.  The  first  is,  God  does  not  so  fabricate  the  link  of  our 
death,  but  we  may,  in  general,  prolong  our  days  by  choosing  wisdom, 
and  shorten  them  by  choosing  folly.  Is  not  the  truth  of  this  proposi- 
tion immoveably  founded  upon  such  scriptures  as  these  ?  If  thou  seekest 
^ler  [wisdom]  as  silver — then  shaft  thou  understand  every  good  path: — 


4S 

Length  of  days  is  in  her  hand,  while  untimely  death  is  in  the  hand  of 
fool-hardiness.  Prov.  ii.  4,  9.  iii.  16. — Keep  my  commandments,  for 
length  of  days,  and  long  life,  and  peace  shall  they  add  unto  thee.  Prov. 
iii.  1 ,  2. — Honour  thy  father  and  mother  that  thou  mayest  live  long  on 
the  earth,  Eph.  vi.  3. — If  thou  wilt  walk  in  my  ways, •"-■then  will  I 
lengthen  thy  days,  1  Kings  iii.  14. — Their  feet  run  to  evil: — Tliey  lay 
zvait  for  their  own  blood,  and  lurk  privily  for  their  own  lives.  So  are 
the  ways  of  every  one  that  is  greedy  of  gain  :  which  taketh  away  the  life 
of  the  owners  thereof  Prov.  i.  16,  &c. — A  sound  heart  is  [in  many 
cases]  the  life  of  the  flesh :  but  envy  the  rottenness  of  the  bones,  Prov. 
xiv.  30.  Hence  so  many  persons  shorten  their  days  by  obstinate 
grief,  for  the;  sorrow  of  the  world  worketh  death.  What  numbers  of 
men  put  an  untimely  end  to  their  lives  by  intemperance,  murder,  and 
robbery,  and  make  good  that  awful  saying  of  David?  Bloody  and 
deceitful  men  shall  not  live  out  half  their  days,  Psalm  Iv.  23 ! — What 
multitudes  verify  this  doctrine  of  the  wise  man  !  The  fear  of  the  Lord 
prolongeth  days,  but  the  years  of  the  wicked  shall  be  shortened,  Prov.  x. 
27. — Does  not  the  Psalmist  pray,  0  my  God,  take  me  not  away  in  the 
midst  of  my  days.  Psalm  cii.  24.  ?— Does  he  not  say,..^s  a  snail  which 
melteth,  so  let  the  wicked  pass  away  like  the  untimely  fruit  of  a 
woman?  And  was  not  this  the  case  of  the  disobedient  Israelites  in  the 
wilderness,  who  committed  the  sin  unto  bodily  death  ?  Is  not  this 
evident  from  1  Cor.  x.  ;  Neither  let  us  commit  fornication,  as  some  of 
them  also  committed,  and  fell  in  one  day  three  and  twenty  thousand,  &c.  ? 
— Nay,  was  not  this  the  case  of  many  of  the  Corinthians  themselves  ? 
For  this  cause  [because  he  that  receiveth  the  Lord's  supper  unwor- 
thily, eateth  and  drinketh  judgment  to  himselfj  many  are  weak  and 
sickly  among  you,  and  many  sleep  [i.  e.  die.]  1  Cor.  xi   30.  ? 

My  second  argument  is  taken  from  reason.  If  God  has  absolutely 
appointed  the  untimely  death  of  all  who  shorten  their  own  days,  or 
the  days  of  others,  by  intemperance,  filthy  diseases,  adultery,  murder, 
robbery,  treason,  &c.  &c.  he  has  also  absolutely  appointed  all  the 
crimes  by  which  their  days  are  shortened  ;  and  has  contrived  all  the 
wars  and  massacres  by  which  this  earth  is  become  a  field  of  blood. 
I  have  heard  of  some  Indians  who  worshi'p  a  horned,  grinning  idol, 
with  an  huge  mouth  split  from  ear  to  ear.  But  the  preaching  of  a 
God,  who  has  planned  and  necessitated  all  the  crimes  that  ever  turned 
the  world  into  an  aceldama,  and  a  common  sewer  of  debauchery,  is 
an  honour  that  the  Manichees,  and  the  orthodox,  so  called,  may 
claim  to  themselves. 

Should  Mr.  T.  answer,  that  although  "  the  free  will  of  the  Deity 
alone  may  fabricate, ^^  adultery,  murder,  and  every  intermediate  link  of 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY.  49 

^he  chain  of  necessity  ;  and  that,  although  the  generation  and  de«ith  of 
a  child  conceived  in  adultery,  and  cut  oflf  by  murder,  is  "  divinely  and 
^unchangeably  fixed  ;^^  yet  God  is  not  at  all  the  author  of  the  adultery 
and  murder  ;  I  desire  to  know,  how  we  can  cut  the  Gordian  knot, 
and  divide  between  adultery^  and  the  generation  or  conception  of  a 
child  born  in  adultery  ; — and  between  the  murder  of  such  a  child,  and 
its  untimely  death  caused  by  the  cruelty  of  its  unnatural  mother. 

From  the  whole,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  we  may  safely  conclude  :  — 
1.  That  the  birth  and  death  of  all  mankind  take  place  according  to 
some  providential  laws  : — 2.  That  God,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  inter- 
poses in  the  execution  or  suspension  of  these  laws,  with  respect  to  the 
hirtk  of  some  men  :    witness  the  birth  of  Isaac,  Samuel,  John  the 
Baptist,  &c. — 3.  That  he  does  the  same  with  respect  to  the  untimely 
death  of  some,  and  the  wonderful  preservation  of  others  ;  as  appears 
by  the  awful  destruction  of  Ananias,  Sapphira,  Herod  :  and  by  the 
miraculous  preservation  of  Moses  in  the  Nile — of  Daniel  in  the  den 
of  lions — of  Jonah  in  the  whale's  belly — and  of  Peter  in  the  prison  : 
- — 4.  That  if  neither  the  lirst  nor  the  last  link  of  the  chain  of  human 
life   is,   in    genetal,  fabricated    by  the   absolute   will  of  God,  it  is 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  "  the  free  "will  of  Deity  alone  fabricates 
the  intermediate  links  :" — 5.  That  to  carry  the  doctrine  of  Providence 
so  far  as  to  make  God  absolutely  appoint  the  birth  and  death  of  all 
mankind  witb  all  their  circumstances,  is  to  exculpate  adulterers  and 
murderers,  and  to  charge  God  with  being  the  principal  contriver,  and 
grand  abi  ttor  of  all  the  atrocious  crimes,  and  of  all  the  fiUhy,  bloody 
circumstances,    which    have  accompanied    the   birth   and    death    of 
countless  myriads  of  meo  : — And  therefore,  6.  That  the  doctrine  of 
the  absolute  necessity  of  all  events,  which  is  commonly  called  absolute 
predestination,  is  to  be  exploded  as  unscriptural,  irrational,  immoral, 
and  big  with  the  most  impious  consequences.      However,  Mr.  T. 
seems  ready  to  conclude,  that  the  death  of  every  man  is  absolutely 
predestinated  because  the  fall  of  a  sparrozv  is  not  beneath  the  notice 
of  our  heavenly  Father.     And  that  he  thinks  so,  appears  from  his 
producing  the  following  texts  in  defence  of  absolute  necessity. 

Pp.  81 — 87.  "  Are  not  tzvo  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing  F  and  one  of 
them  shall  not  fall  on  the  ground  without  your  Father. — Matt.  x.  29. — 
JVot  one  of  them,  iic.  is  forgotten  before  God.  Luke  xii.  6." — These, 
and  the  like  scriptures  do  not  prove,  that  God  made  particular 
decrees  from  all  eternity,  concerning  the  number  of  times  that  a 
sparrow  should  chirp,  the  number  of  seeds  that  it  should  eat,  and  the 
peculiar  time  and  manner  of  its  death.  They  prove  only,  that 
G  od's  providence  extends  to  their  preservation  ;  and  that  they  rise 
Vol.  IV 


5.0  REMARKS    ON   MR.    TOPLADV's    SCHEME 

into  existence,  or  fall  according  to  some  law  of  God's  making,  the 
effect  of  which  he  can  suspend  whenever  he  pleases.  If  you  shoot 
a  sparrow,  it  falls  indeed  according  to  this  natural  law  of  our  Father, 
that  an  animal  mortally  wounded  shall  fall  ;  hut  it  by  no  means  fol- 
lows, that  you  are  necessitated  thus  to  wound  it, — When  the  empe- 
ror Domitian  spent  his  time  in  catching  and  killing  flies,  those  insects 
fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  childish  and  cruel  sport,  according  to  this  gene- 
ral decree  of  Providence,  "  In  such  circumstances,  a  man  shall  have 
power  to  kill  a  feebler  animal."  But,  to  suppose  that,  from  all  eter- 
nity, God  made  absolute  decrees  that  Domitian  should  lock  himself 
up  in  his  apartment,  and  kill  twenty-three  flies  on  such  a  day,  and 
forty-six  the  next  day — that  he  should  wring  off  the  head  of  one 
which  was  six  weeks  old,  and  with  a  pin  impale  another,  which  was 
three  months,  six  hours,  and  fifteen  minutes  old  ; — Or  to  imagine  that, 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  the  Almighty  decreed,  that  three 
idle  boys  should  play  the  truant  such  an  afternoon >  in  order  to  seek 
birds'  nests  ; — that  they  should  find  a  sparrow's  nest  with  five  young 
ones  ; — that  they  should  torment  one  to  death,  that  they  should  let  ano- 
therfly  away,  tiiat  they  should  starve  the  third,  feed  the  fourth,  and  give 
the  fifth  to  a  cat,  after  having  put  its  eyes  out,  and  plucked  so  many 
feathers  out  of  its  tender  wings  :  —  To  suppose  this,  I  say,  is  to  undo 
all  by  overdoing.  It  is  absurdly  to  ascribe  to  God  the  cruelty  of 
Nero,  and  the  childishness  of  Domitian,  for  fear  he  should  not  have 
all  the  glory  of  St.  John's  love,  and  Solomon's  wisdom.  In  a  word,  it 
is  to  make  the  Father  of  lights  exactly  like  the  prince  of  darkness — the 
evil  principle  of  the  Manichees,  who  is  the  first  cause  of  all  iniquity 
and  wo.  Who  can  sufficiently  wonder,  that  any  good  man  should  be 
so  dreadfully  mistaken  as  to  call  such  a  scheme  a  Christian  scheme ! 
— a  doctrine  according  to  godliness! — a  Gospel! — and  the  genuine 
Gospel  too!  And  when  Mr.  T.  charges  us  with  Atheism^  because 
we  cannot  bow  to  the  first  cause  of  all  evil,  does  he  not  betray  as 
rau'h  prejudice  as  the  heathens  did,  when  they  called  the  primitive 
Christians  Atheists,  merely  because  the  disciples  of  Christ  bore  their 
testimony  ag^iinst  idol  gods  ? 

Mr.  T.  produces  many  passages  of  Scripture,  besides  those  which 
I  have  anitrtadverted  upon  in  this  section.  But  as  they  are  equally 
misapplied,  one  or  another  of  the  twelve  keys  which  I  have  presented 
the  public  with,  will  easily  rescue  all  of  them  from  Calvinian  bon- 
dage. 


OP    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY.  51 

SECTION  IV. 

.in  cuisrver  to  the  capital  objections  of  the  Necessitarians  against   the 
doctrine  of  Liberty. 

If  I  have  broken  the  unphilosophical  and  unscriptural  pillars  on 
which  Mr.  T.  buUds  his  temple  of  philosophical  and  Christian  neces- 
sity, I  have  nothing  to  do  now  but  to  answer  some  plausible  objec- 
tions, by  which  the  Necessitarians  puzzle  those  who  embrace  the 
doctrine  of  liberty. 

Obj.I.  And  lirst,  they  say,  thit  *' if  God  had  not  secured  every 
link  of  the  chain  of  events,  it  would  fall  to  pieces;  and  the  events 
which  God  wants  absolutely  to  bring  about,  could  not  be  brought 
about  at  all ;  whilst  those  which  he  designs  absolvtely  to  hinder, 
would  take  place  in  full  opposition  to  his  decrees." 

But  we  deny  these  consequences  :  for,  1.  Nothing  that  God  deter- 
mines absolutely  to  hinder  shall  ever  come  to  pass.  Thus  he  has 
absolutely  decreed,  that  the  gates  of  hell  shall  never  totally  prevail 
iigainst  or  destroy  his  church,  i.  e.  all  true  Christians ;  and  there- 
fore, there  will  always  be  some  true  Christians  upon  earth. — It  is  his 
absolute  will,  that  all  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  seek  for 
glory  shall  have  eternal  life^  and  that  all  who  finally  neglect  so  great 
salvation  shall  feel  his  wrathful  indignation  ;  and  therefore  none  shall 
pluck  the  former  out  of  the  hands  of  his  remunerative  mercy,  and 
none  shall  pluck  the  latter  out  of  the  hands  of  liis  vindictive  justice. 

2.  God  has  ten  thousand  strings  at  his  providential  bow — and  ten 
thousand  bridles  in  his  providential  hand,  to  curb  and  manage  free 
agents,  which  way  soever  they  please  to  go :  and  therefore  to  sup- 
pose, that  he  has  tightly  bound  all  his  creatures  with  cords  of  absolute 
necessity,  for  fear  he  should  not  be  able  to  manage  them  if  they  had 
their  liberty — to  suppose  this,  I  say,  is  to  pour  upon  divine  Provi- 
dence the  same  contempt,  which  a  timorous  gentleman  brings  upon 
himself,  when  he  dares  not  ride  a  spirited  horse  any  longer  than  a 
groom  leads  him  by  the  bridle,  that  he  may  not  run  away  with  his 
unskilful  rider. 

3.  If  things  had  not  happened  one  way,  they  might  have  happened 
another  way.  Supposing,  for  example,  God  had  absolutely  ordered, 
that  Solomon  should  be  David's  son  by  Bathsheba  ;  this  event  might 
have  taken  place  without  his  necessitating  David  to  commit  adultery 
and  murder.  For  Providence  might  have  found  out  means  for 
marrying  Bathsheba  to  David  before  siie  was  married  to  Urial)  :  or 


52  JREMARKS    on   MR.    TOPLADY's    SCHEME 

God  might  have  taken  Uriah  to  heaven  by  a  fever,  and  David  could 
legally  have  married  his  widow.  Again  :  if  neither  Caiaphas  not 
Pilate  had  condemned  our  Lord,  he  could  have  made  his  life  an  offer- 
ing for  sin,  by  commanding  the  clouds  to  shoot  a  thousand  lightnings 
upon  his  devoted  head,  and  to  consume  him  as  Elijah's  sacrifice  was 
consumed  on  mount  Carmel. 

4.  The  pious  author  of  Ecclesiasticus  says  with  great  truth,  that 
God  h(jfi  no  need  of  the  sinful  man.  To  suppose  that  the  chain  of 
God's  providence  would  have  been  absolutely  broken,  if  Ma- 
nasseh  or  Nero  had  committed  one  murder  less  than  they  did,  is  to 
ascribe  to  the  old  murderer  and  his  servants  an  importance  of  which 
Manes  himself  might  have  been  ashamed.  Although  God  used 
Nebuchadnezzar,  Alexander,  and  Attila,  to  scourge  guilty  nations, 
and  to  exercise  the  patience  of  his  righteous  servants,  he  was  by  no 
means  obliged  to  use  them.  For  he  might  have  obtained  the  same 
ends  by  the  plague,  the  famine,  or  the  dreadful  ministry  of  the  angel 
who  cut  off  the  firstborn  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  numerous  army  of 
Sennacherib.  I  flatter  m3'seif  that  these  four  answers  fully  set  aside 
the  first  objection  of  the  Necessitarians.    Pass  we  on  to  another. 

Obj.  II.  "  If  God  had  not  necessitated  the  fall  of  Adam,  and  secured 
his  sin,  Adam  might  have  continued  innocent;  and  then,  there  would 
have  been  no  need  of  Christ  and  of  Christianity.  Had  Adam  stood, 
we  should  have  been  without  Christ  to  all  eternity  :  but  believers 
had  rather  be  bora  in  sin  than  be  Christless  :  they  had  rather  be 
sick  than  have  nothing  to  do  with  their  heavenly  Physician,  and  with 
the  cordials  of  his  sanctifying  Spirit."* 

Answer.  It  is  absurd  to  insinuate  that  the  Father  necessitated  Adam 
to  sin,  in  order  to  make  way  for  the  indwelling  of  his  Word  and  Spirit 
in  the  hearts  of  believers.  For  if  Adam  was  made  in  the  image  of 
God  ; — if  God  is  that  mysterious,  adorable,  supreme  Being,  whom 
the  Scriptures  call  Father^  Wordy  and  Holy  Ghost; — if  the  Father 
gave  his  Word  and  Light  to  Adam  in  Paradise,  and  shed  abroad  divine 
love  in  his  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost  given  unto  him,  Adam  was  full 
of  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God  by  creation.  And,  although  the 
eternal  Word  was  not  Adam's  Hedeemer,  yet  he  was  Adam's  life  and 
light ;  for  Christ,  considered  as  the  Word  of  God,  was  the  wisdom 
and  power  of  sinless  man,  just  as  he  is  the  wisdom  and  power  of  holy 
believers.     The  reason  why  man  needed  not  the  atoning  blood  of  the 

"*=  Mr.  Toplady  dares  not  produce  this  objection  in  all  its  force ;  he  only  hints  at  it. 
His  own  words  are,  p.  130,  "  Let  me  give  our  free  willers  a  very  momentous  hint :  viz. 
That  the  entrance  of  original  sin  was  one  of  those  essential  links^  on  which  the  Messiah's 
incarnation  and  crucifixion  were  suspended." 


i)F    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY.  53 

Kamb  in  the  state  of  innocence,  was  because  the  holy  Lamb  of  God 
lived  in  his  heart,  and  jointly  with  the  Spirit  of  love,  maintained  there 
the  mystical  kingdom  of  righteous  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 
To  suppose,  therefore,  that  if  Adam  had  not  sinned  he  would  have 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  the  Father,  is  as  absurd 
as  to  fancy,  that,  if  people  did  not  poison  themselves,  they  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  health  and  cheerfulness.  And  to  intimate  that  God 
necessarily  brought  about  the  sin  of  Adam,  in  order  to  make  way  for 
the  murder  of  his  incarnate  Son,  is  as  impious  as  lo  insinuate,  that 
our  Lord  impelled  the  Jews  to  despise  the  day  of  their  visitation,  in 
order  to  secure  the  opportunity  of  weeping  over  the  hardness  of 
their  hearts.  If  God  necessitated  the  mischief  in  order  to  remedy 
it,  the  gratitude  of  the  redeemed  is  partly  at  an  end  ;  and  the  thanks 
they  owe  him  are  only  of  the  same  kind  witK  such  as  Mr.  Toplady 
would  owe  me,  if  I  wantonly  caused  him  to  break  his  legs,  and  then 
procured  him  a  good  surgeon  to  set  them.  But  what  shall  we  say  of 
the  non  redeemed  ?  Those  unfortunate  creatures  whom  Mr.  Top- 
lady  calls  the  Reprobate?  Are  there  not  countless  myriads  of  these 
according  to  his  unscriptural  Gospel  ?  And  what  thanks  do  these  owe 
the  evil  Manichean  God,  who  absolutely  necessitates  them  to  sin,  and 
absolutely  debars  them  from  any  saving  interest  in  a  Redeemer,  that 
he  may  send  them  without  fail  to  everlasting  burnings  ?  How  strangely 
perverted  is  the  rational  taste  of  Mr.  T.  who  calls  the  doctrine  of 
absolute  necessity,  which  is  big  with  absolute  reprobation,  absolute 
wickedness,  and  absolute  damnation,  a  comfortable  Aoc\.T'me\  a  doc- 
trine of  grace  !  May  we  not  expect  next  to  hear  him  cry  up  midnight 
gloom  as  meridian  brightness  ? 

Bui  to  return:  If  it  was  necessary  that  Adam  should  sin  in  order 
to  glorify  the  Father  by  making  way  for  the  crucifixion  of  the  Lamb 
of  God,  is  it  not  also  necessary  that  believers  should  sin  in  order  to 
glorify  God  more  abundantly,  by  crucifying  Christ  afresh,  and  putting 
him  again  to  open  shame/'  Will  they  not,  by  this  mean,  have  greater 
need  of  their  Physician,  make  a  fuller  trial  of  the  virtue  of  his  blood, 
and  sing  louder  in  heaven  ?  O  how  perilous  is  a  doctrine  which  at 
every  turn  transforms  itself  into  a  doctrine  of  light,  to  support  the 
most  subtle  and  pernicious  tenet  of  the  Antinomians,  Let  us  sin  that 
grace  may  abound  ! 

Mr.   T.,  who  has  only  hinted  at  the   two  preceding  objections, 

triumphs   much    in   that   which   follows :    it  shall   therefore   appear 

clothed  in  his  own  words.     In   the  contents   of  his   book  he  says, 

'Methodists — [he  gives  this  name  to  all  who  oppose  his  scheme  of 


.[>4  REMARKS   ON   MR.    TOPLADY's    SCHEME 

Necesaitjf.]    Methodists,  more  gross  Manicheans  than  Maues  himself:*- 
The  proof  occurs  page  144.  in  the  following  words. 

Obj.  III.  "  The  old  Manicheism  was  a  gentle  impiety,  and  a 
slender  absurdity,  when  contrasted  with  the  modern  Arminian 
improvements  on  that  system.  For  which  is  worse  ?  To  assert  the 
existence  of  two  independent  Beings,  and  no  more  ;  or,  To  assert  the 
existence  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  independent 
Beings,  all  living  at  one  time,  and  most  of  them  waging  successful 
war  on  the  designs  of  him  thut  made  them  ? — Even  confining  our- 
selves to  our  own  world  it  will  follow  that  Arminian  Manicheism 
exceeds  the  paltry  Oriental  Duality,  at  the  immense  rate  of 
150,000,000  to  2 — without  reckoning  the  adult  self-determiners  of 
past  generations." 

Answer.  This  argument,  cast  into  a  logical  mould,  will  yield  the 
following  syllogism  : 

Every  being,  able  to  determine  himself,  is  an  independent  being,  and 
of  consequence,  a  God: 

According  to  the  doctrine  of  free  will,  every  accountable  man  is  a 
being  able  to  determine  himself ; 

Therefore,  accordina;  to  the  doctrine  of  free  will,  everj'  accountable 
man  is  an  independent  being,  and  consequently  a  God. — Hence  it 
follows,  that,  if  Manes  erred  by  believing  there  were  two  Gods, 
thoso  wlio  espouse  the  doctrine  of  free  will  are  more  gross  Mani- 
cheans than  Manes  himself;  since  they  believe  that  every  man  is 
a  God. 

Observe  Mr.  T.'s  consistency  !  indeed  when  he  attacks  Mr.  W. 
and  Arminianism,  no  ch;jrges  [be  they  ever  so  contradictory]  come 
amiss  to  him.  In  his  Historic  Proof,  Arminianism  is  Atheism;  and  in 
his  Scheme  of  Necessity,  Arminianism  is  a  system  which  supposes 
countless  myri;«ds  of  gods  I  But,  letting  this  pass,  I  observe,  that 
the  preceding  syllogism  is  a  mere  sophism  ;  the  first  proposition,  on 
which  all  the  others  depend,  being  absolutely  false ;  witness  the  fol- 
lowing appeals  to  common  sense. 

Is  a  horse  independent  on  his  master  because  he  can  determine 
himself  to  range  or  lie  down  in  his  pasture  ? — Is  Mr.  T.  independent 
on  his  bishop,  because  he  can  determine  himself  to  preach  twice  next 
Sunday,  or  only  once,  or  not  at  all  ? — Is  a  captain  independent  on  his 
general,  because  he  can  determine  himself  to  stand  his  ground,  or  to 
run  away  in  an  engagement? — Are  soldiers  independent  on  their 
colonel,  because  they  determined  themselves  to  list  in  such  a  com- 
pany ? — Is  a  Negro  slave  independent  on  his  master,  or  is  he  a  little 


OP    PHILOSOPHICAL    NECESSITY,  5o 

God,  because  when  he  lies  down,  he  can  determine  himself  to  do  it  on 
the  left  side,  or  on  the  right? — Is  a  highwayman  a  God,  because  he 
can  determine  himself  to  rob  a  traveller,  or  to  let  him  pass  without 
molestation  I  In  a  word,  are  subjects  independent  of  their  sovereign, 
because  they  can  determine  themselves  to  break  or  to  keep  the  laws  of 
the  land  ? 

Every  one  of  the  preceding  questions  pours  light  upon  the  absurd- 
ity of  Mr.  T.'s  argument.  But  that  absurdity  will  appear  doubly 
glaring,  if  you  consider  three  things  ; — 1.  All  free  agents  have  re- 
ceived  their  life  and  free  agency  from  God  as  precious  talents,  for  the 
good  or  bad  use  of  which  they  are  accountable  to  his  di^stributive 
justice. — 2.  All  free  agents  are  every  moment  dependent  upon  God 
for  the  preservation  of  their  life  and  free  agency  ;  there  being  no 
instant  in  which  God  may  not  resume  ail  hi^  temporary  twlents,  by 
requiring  their  souls  of  them.—  3.  He  has  appointed  a  day  in  which 
he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  Jesus  Christ ;  then 
shall  he  publicly  convince  all  moral  agents  of  their  dependence  on 
his  goodness  and  justice,  by  graciously  rewarding  the  righteous,  and 
justly  punishing  the  wicked  according  to  their  works. — 4.  In  the 
meantime,  he  makes  them  sensible  of  their  dependence  by  keeping 
in  his  providential  hand  the  staff  of  their  bread,  and  the  thread  of 
their  life:  saying  to  the  greatest  of  them.  Ye  are  Gads  [in  autliority 
over  others,]  but  ye  shall  die  like  men  ;  and — after  death  comes  judg- 
ment.—\i  is  as  ridiculous  therefore  to  suppose  that  upon  the  scheme 
of  free  will,  men  are  independent  beings  ;  as  to  assert  that  prisoners,: 
who  are  going  to  the  bar  to  meet  their  Lawgiver  and  Judge,  are  inde- 
pendent upon  his  supreme  authority  ;  because  those  who  are  going 
to  be  condemned  for  robbery  or  murder,  determined  themselves  to 
rob  or  murder,  without  any  Antinomiau,  impulsive  decree  made  by 
their  Judge  ;  and  because  those  who  are  going  to  be  rewarded  for 
their  obedience  were  not  necessitated  to  obey,  as  a  wave  is  neces- 
sitated to  roll  along  when  it  is  irresistibly  impelled  by  another  wave. 
However,  Mr.  T.  sings  the  song  of  victory,  as  if  he  had  proved 
that  upon  the  Arminian  scheme  of  free  will  every  man  is  an  inde- 
pendent beinjr,  and  a  God.  "  Poor  Manes  !"  says  he,  "  willi  how 
excellent  a  grace  do  Arminians  call  thee  a  heretic!  And  above  all 
such  Arminians  (whereof  Mr.  J.  Wesley  is  one)  as  agree  with  thee, 
in  believing  the  attainability  of  sinless  perfection  here  below  :  or, 
to  use  the  good  old  Manichean  phrase,  who  assert,  that  The  Evil 
Principle  may  be  totally  separated  from  man  in  this  present  life  .'" 

The   reader  will  permit  me  to  make   a  concluding  remark  upon 
this  triumphant  exclamation  of  Mr.  Toplady.     I  have  observed  tha^ 


56  REMARKS    ON   MR.    TOl'LADY'S    SCHEME 

Manes  believed,  there  are  in  the  Godhead  two  co-eternal  principles  ; 
1.  The  absolute  sovereignty  oi  free  grace,  which  necessitates  men 
to  good  ;  and    2.    The   absolute  sovereignty  of  free  wtmthy  which 
necessitates  them  to  evil.     Nevertheless,  Manes  was  not  so  mistaken 
as  to  suppose  that  the  good  principle  in  his   deity  was  weaker  than 
the  bad  principle  ;  and  that  the  latter  could  never  be  dislodged  by 
the  former  from  the  breast  of  one  single  elect  person.     Manes  had 
faith  enough  to  believe,  that  now  is  the  day  of  salvation,  and  that 
Christ  (and  not  death,  or  a  temporary  hell]  saves  good  Christians/rom 
their  sins.     Accordingly  he  asserted,   that  nothing  unholy  or  wicked 
can  dwell  with  the  good  principled  God  ;  and  that  none  shall  inherit 
eternal  life,  but  such  as  so  concur  with  the  heavenly  light,  as  to  have 
the  \Vorks  of  darkness  destroyed  in  their  souls.     And  therefore  he 
maintained  with  St.  Paul,  that  we  must  be  sanctified  throughout,  and 
that  our  souls  must  be  found  at  death  blameless,  and  without  spot  or 
wrinkle  of  sin  ;  and  he  held  with  St.  John,  that  he  who  is  fully  born  of 
God  (the  good  principle)  sinneth  not,  but  keepeth  himsef,  and  the  wicked 
principle  toucheth  him  not,  so  as  to  lead  him  into  iniquity.     Now  if 
Mr.  T.  so  firmly  believes  in  the  evil  principle,  as   to  assert,  that, 
though  believers  are  ever  so  willing  to  have  no  other  Lord  but  the 
good  principled  God,  yet  this  God  can  never  destroy   before  death 
the  works  of  the  sin-predestinating  God  in  their  hearts  ;  and   if,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  wicked  principle  completely  destroys  all  good  in 
all  the  reprobates,  even  in  this  life  ;  is  it  not   evident  that  Mr.  Top- 
lady's  charge   may  be  justly  retorted  ;*  and  that,  as  he  ascribes  so 
much  more  power  to  the   evil  principle  than  to  the  good,  he  carries 
the  sovereignty  of  the  evil  principle  farther  than  Manes  himself  did, 
and  is,  [to  use  his  own  expression,]  a  "  more  gross  Manichean  than 
Manes  himself." 

*  Page  154.  Mr.  T.  produces  the  following  objection.  "  'Tis  curious  to  behold  Arrai- 
nians  themselves  forced  to  take  refuge  in  the  harbour  of  Necessity.  It  is  necessary,  say 
they,  that  man's  will  should  hej^ree  ;  for  without  freedom,  the  will  were  no  will  at  all"  [i.  e. 
no  free  icUl — no  such  will  as  constitutes  man  a  moral  and  accountable  agent] — "  Free- 
agency,  themselves  being  judges,  is  only  a  ramification  of  necessity.'''' 

This  is  playing  upon  words,  and  shuffling  logical  cards  in  order  to  delude  the  simple.  I 
have  granted  again  and  again,  that  there  is  a  necessity  of  nature,  a  necessity  of  conse- 
quence, a  necessity  of  duty,  a  necessity  of  decency,  a  necessity  of  convenience,  &c.  &c. 
but  all  these  sorts  of  necessity  do  no  more  amount  to  the  Calviniah,  absolute  necessity  of 
all  events,  than  my  granting  that  the  king  has  a  variety  of  officers  about  his  person  by 
7iecesst72/ of  decency,  of  office,  of  custom,  &c.  implies  my  granting,  that  he  has  a  certain 
officer,  who  absolutely  necessitates  him  to  move  just  as  he  does,  insomuch  that  he  cannot 
turn  his  eyes,  or  stir  one  finger  otherwise  than  this  imaginary  officer  directs  or  impels  him. 
This  objection  of  Mr.  T.  is  so  excessi^f-ly  triflinjr  that  I  almost  blame  myself  for  taking- 
notice  of  it  even  in  a  nofc 


OF  PHtLOSOrHICAL  NECESSITY,  57 

Obj.  IV.  "  Your  scheme  of  free  will  labours  under  a  greater 
difficulty  than  that  with  which  you  clog  the  scheme  of  necessity : 
because,  if  it  do  not  represent  the  sin-necessitating  principle  as  more 
powerful  than  the  good  principle,  yet  it  represents  created  spirits  as 
stronger  than  the  God  who  made  them  ;  an  impotent,  disappointed 
God  this,  who  says, — I  would — and  ye  would  not.'*^ 

Answer  1.  These  words  were  actually  spoken  by  incarnate  omni- 
potence :  nor  do  they  prove  that  man  is  stronger  than  God ;  but 
only  that  when*  God  deals  with  free  agents  about  those  things  con- 
cerning which  he  will  call  them  to  an  account,  he  does  not  necessi- 
tate their  will  by  an  irresistible  exertion  of  his  power,  {propter  jus- 
turn  Dei  judicium)  that  he  may  leave  room  for  the  display  of  his  jus- 
tice, as  the  fathers  said  ;  for  his  perfections,  and  our  probationary 
circumstances  require,  that  he  should  maintain  the  character  of 
Lawgiver  and  Judge,  as  well  as  that  of  Creator  and  Sovereign.  And 
therefore  when  we  say,  that  free  agents  are  not  necessarily  deter- 
mined by  God  to  those  actions  for  which  God  is  going  to  punish  or 
reward  them,  we  do  not  represent  free  agents  as  stronger  or  greater 
than  God.  We  only  place  them  {sub  justo  Dei  judicio)  under  God's 
righteous  government^  as  said  the  fathers,  equally  subjected  to  the 
legislative  wisdom,  and  executive  power  of  their  omnipotent  Law- 
giver. 

2.  Whether  free  agents  are  rewarded  or  punished,  saved  or 
damned,  God  our  Saviour  will  never  be  disappointed  ;  for,  1.  He 
will  pronounce  the  sentence ;  and  what  he  will  do  himself  will  not 
disappoint  his  expectation.  2.  It  is  as  much  God's  righteous,  eternal 
design  to  punish  wicked,  obstinate  free  agents,  as  to  reward  yielding, 
and  obedient  free  agents.  3.  Every  Gospel  dispensation  yields  a 
savour  of  life  or  death.  The  sword  of  the  Lord  is  a  two-edged 
sword  :  if  it  do  not  cut  down  a  man's  sin  it  will  cut  down  his  person. 
And  though  God  as  Creator  and  Redeemer,  does  not  in  the  day  of 
salvation  Calvinistically  desire  the  death  of  a  sinner ;  yet,  as  a  holy 
Lawgiver,  a  covenant  keeping  God,  and  a  righteous  Judge,  he  is 
determin<>.d  to  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds  :  eternal  life 
to  them  who,  by  patient  continuance  in  well-doings  seek  for  glory;  hut 
indignation  and  wrath  to  them  who  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but  obey  un- 
righteousness :  And  God  will  do  this,  In  the  day  when  he  shall  judge 
the  secrets  of  men  according  to  the  Gospel.  Rom.  ii.  6 — 16.  Hence 
it  is  evident  that  the  bow  of  divine  justice  has  two  strings,  that 
each  string  will  shoot  its  peculiar  arrow,  and  although  God  leaves  it 
to  free  agents  to  choose  which  they  will  have,  the  arrow  which  is 
winged  with  remunerative  hfe,  or  that  which  rarrieg  vindictive  death  ; 

Vol.   IV.  8 


yet  he  can  never  be  disappointed  ;  he  will  most  infalliby  hit  the 
judicial  mark  which  he  has  set  up  ;  witness  the  awful  declaration 
which  is  engraven  upon  that  mark :  These  [obstinate  free  agents] 
shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment :  but  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal.  Matt.  xxv.  46. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  humbly  hope,  that  whether  candid  readers 
consider  the  inconclusiveness  of  Mr.  T.'s  philosophical  arguments — 
the  injudicious  manner  in  which  he  has  pressed  the  Scriptures  into 
the  service  of  absolute  necessity — or  the  weakness  of  his  objections, 
which  he  directly  or  indirectly  makes  against  the  doctrine  oi  liberty  ; 
they  will  see  that  his  scheme  is  as  contrary  to  true  philosophy,  and  to 
well-apphed  Scripture,  as  the  absolute  necessity  of  adultery  and  murder 
is  contrary  to  good  morals,  and  the  absolute  reprobation  of  some  of  our 
unborn  children,  and  perhaps  of  cur  own  souls,  is  contrary  to  evan" 
gelical  comfortn 


pECTION  V, 

£ke  doctrine  of  Necessity  is  the  capital  error  of  the  Calvinists^  and  the 
foundation  of  the  most  wretched  schemes  of  Philosophy  and  Divinity. 
— How  nearly  Mr.  Toplady  agrees  with  Mr.  Hobbes,  the  apostle 
of  the  Materialists  in  England^  with  respect  to   the  doctrine  of 

Necessity. — Conclusion. 

We  have  seen  on  what  philosophical  and  scriptural  proofs  Mr. 
Toplady  founds  the  doctrine  of  necessity  ;  and  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
the  inconchisiveness  of  his  arguments  has  been  fairly  pointed  out.  I 
shall  now  subjoin  some  remarks,  which  I  hope  are  not  unworthy  of 
the  reader's  attention. 

1.  It  is  not  without  reason  that  Mr.  T.  borrows  from  false  philoso- 
phy, and  misapplied  passages  of  Scripture,  whatever  seems  to  coun- 
tenance his  doctrine  of  necessity :  for  that  doctrine  is  the  very  soul  of 
Calvinism,  and  Calvinism  is,  in  his  account,  the  marrow  of  the  Gos- 
pel. If  the  doctrine  of  absolute  necessity  be  true,  Calvinian  election 
and  reprobation  are  true  also  :  if  it  be  flilse,  Calvinism,  so  far  as  we 
oppose  it,  is  left  without  either  prop  or  foundation.  Take  away 
necessity  from  the  modern  doctrines  of  grace,  and  you  reduce  them  to 
i.he  Scripture  standard,  which  we  follow,  and  of  which  Arminius  was 
too  much  afraid. 

2.  Those  who  would  see  at  once  the  bar  which  separates  us  from 
the  CalvinistS;  need  only  consider  the  following  questions  : — Are  all 


4f  philosophical  necessity.  5^ 

those  who  shall  be  damned  absolutely  necessitated  to  continue  In  ^in 
and  perish  ?  And  are  all  those  who  shall  be  saved,  absolutely  necessi- 
tated to  work  righteousness  and  be  eternally  saved  ?  Or,  to  unite 
both  questions  in  one,  Shall  men  be  judged,  that  is,  shall  they  be 
justified  or  condemned,  in  the  last  day,  as  bound  agents,  according  to  the 
unavoidable  consequences  of  Chrisfs  work,  or  oi  Jidarn's  work  ?  Or, 
shall  they  he  justified  or  condemned,  according  to  their  own  works,  as 
the  Scripture  declares  ?  I  la}'  a  peculiar  stress  upon  the  words  their 
own,  because  works,  which  absolute  decrees  necessitate  us  to  do,  are 
no  longer,  properly  speaking,  our  own  works  ;  but  the  works  of  him 
who  necessitates  us  to  do  them. 

3.  There  i?  but  one  case  in  which  we  can  scripturally  admit  the 
Calvinian  doctrine  of  necessity,  and  that  is,  the  salvation  of  infants 
ivho  die  before  they  have  committed  actual  sin.  These  we  grant 
are  necessarily  or  Calvinistically  saved.  But  they  will  not  be  judged 
according  to  their  works,  seeing  they  died  before  they  wrought  either 
iniquity  or  righteousness.  Their  salvation  will  depend  only  on  the 
irresistible  work  of  Christ,  and  bis  Spirit.  As  they  were  never  called 
personally  to  work  out  their  own  salvation ;  and  as  they  never  per- 
sonally wrought  out  their  own  damnation,  they  will  all  be  saved  by 
the  supefabounding  grace  of  God,  through  the  meritorious  infancy 
and  death  of  the  holy  child  Jesus.  But  it  is  an  abomination  to  sup- 
pose, that  because  God  can  justly  force  holiness  and  salvation  upon 
iome  infants,  he  can  justly  force  continued  sin  and  eternal  damnation 
upon  myriads  of  people,  by  putting  them  in  such  circumstances  as 
absolutely  necessitate  them  to  continue  in  sin  and  be  damned.  I 
repeat  it  :  God  may  bestow  eternal  favours  upon  persons  whom  his 
decrees  necessitate  to  be  righteous.  But  he  can  never  inflict  eternal 
punishments  upon  persons,  whom  his  decrees,  according  to  Mr.  Top- 
lady's  doctrine,  necessitate  to  be  wicked  from  first  to  last. 

4.  The  moderate  GaTvinists  say  indeed,  that  Adam  was  endued 
with  free  will,  and  that  God  did  not  necessitate  him  to  sin  :  but  if 
necessity  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  first  man's  obedience  and  first 
transgression  ;  why  should  it  be  supposed,  that  it  has  so  much  to  do 
with  us,  as  absolutely  to  beget  all  our  good  and  bad  works?  And  if 
it  be  not  unreasonable  to  say  that  God  endued  one  man  with  a  power 
to  determine  himself;  why  should  we  be  considered  as  enemies  to 
the  Gospel,  becanse  we  assert  that  he  has  made  all  men  in  some 
degree  capable  of  determining  themselves  ;  the  Scriptures  declaring 
that  he  treats  all  adult  persons  as  free  agents,  or  persona  endued  with 
the  power  of  self-determination  '^ 


60  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY'S  SCHEME 

5.  Mr.  Toplady  and  all  the  rigid  Calvinists  suppose  indeed,  that  God's 
neessitation  extended  to  the  commission  of  Adam's  sin,  and  yet  they 
tell  us  that  God  is  not  the  author,  but  only  the  permitter  of  sin.  But 
they  do  not  consider  that  their  doctrine  of  absolute  necessity  leaves  no 
more  room  for  permission,  than  the  absolute  decree  that  a  pound  shall 
aha>ays  exactly  weigh  sixteen  ounces,  leaves  room  for  a  permission  of 
its  weighing  sotnetimes  Jifteen  ounces  and  sometimes  seventeen.  Should 
Mr.  Toplady  reply,  that  "  such  a  decree,  however,  leaves  room  for 
the  permission,  that  a  pound  shall  always  exactly  weigh  sixteen 
ounces  :"  I  reply,  that  this  is  playing  upon  words  ;  it  being  evident 
that  the  word  permissio7i,  in  such  a  case,  is  artfully  put  for  the  plainer 
word  necessity  or  absolute  decree.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that 
although  Mr.  Toplady  aims  at  being  more  consistent  than  the  mode- 
rate Calvinists,  he  is  in  fact  as  inconsistent  as  they,  if  he  denies  that, 
upon  the  scheme  of  the  absolute  decrees  preached  by  Calvin,  and  of 
the  absolute  necessity  which  he  himself  maintains,  God  is  properly  the 
contriver  and  author  of  all  sin  and  wickedness. 

6.  It  is  dreadful  to  lay,  directly  or  indirectly,  all  sin  at  the  door  of 
an  omnipotent  Being,  who  is  fearful  in  holiness,  and  glorious  in  praises. 
Nor  is  it  less  dangerous  to  make  poor  deluded  Christians  swallow 
down,  as  Gospel,  some  of  the  most  dangerous  errors  that  were  ever 
propagated  by  ancient  or  modern  Infidels.  We  have  already  seen 
that  the  capital  error  of  Manes  was  the  doctrine  of  necessity.  This 
doctrine  was  also  the  grand  engine  with  which  Spinosa  in  Holland, 
and  Hobbes  in  England,  attempted  to  overthrow  Christianity  in  the 
last  century.  Those  two  men,  who  may  be  called  the  apostles  of 
modern  Materialists  and  Atheists,  tried  to  destroy  the  Lord's  vineyard, 
by  letting  loose  upon  it  the  ver}^  error  which  Mr.  T.  recommends 
to  us  as  the  capital  doctrine  of  grace.  "  Spinosa,  [says  a  modern 
author]  will  allow  no  Governor  of  the  universe  but  necessity.''^  As 
for  Mr.  Hobbes,  he  built  his  Materialism  upon  the  ruins  oi  free  zmll, 
and  the  foundation  of  necessity :  hear  the  above-quoted  author  giving 
us  an  account  of  the  monstrous  system  of  religion,  known  by  the 
n^me  of  Hobbism :  "Freedom  of  will  it  was  impossible  that  Mr. 
Hobbes  should  assert  to^  be  a  property  of  matter  ;  but  he  finds  a  very 
unexpected  way  to  extricate  himself  out  of  the  difficulty.  The  pro- 
position against  him  stands  thus  ;  '  Freedom  of  will  cannot  be  a  pro- 
perty of  matter  ;  but  there  are  beings  which  have  freedom  of  will ; 
therefore  there  are  substances  which  are  not  material.'  He  answers 
this  at  once,  by  saying  the  most  strange  thing,  and  the  most  contra- 
dictory to  our  knowledge  of  what  passes  within  ourselves,  that  per- 


OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   NECESSITY,  61 

haps  was  ever  advanced;  namely,  that  there  is  no  freedom  of  will. 
Every  eifect,  he  says,  [and  this  is  exactly  the  doctrine  of  Mr. 
Toplady,  as  the  quotations  I  have  produced  from  his  book  abun- 
dantly prove ;]  Every  effect  must  be  owing  to  some  cause,  and  that 
cause  must  produce  the  e&ecV necessarily.  Thus,  whatever  body  ig 
moved,  is  moved  by  some  other  body,  and  that  by  a  third,  and  so  on 
without  end.  In  the  same  manner  he.  [Mr.  Hobbes]  concludes,  the 
will  of  a  voluntary  agent  mast  be  determined  by  some  other  external 
to  it,  and  so  on  without  end  :  therefore  that  the  will  is  not  determined 
by  any  power  of  determining  itself,  inherent  in  itself;  that  is,  it  is 
not  free,  nor  is  there  any  such  thing  as  freedom  of  will ;  but  that  all 
is  the  act  of  necessity.''^ — This  is  part  of  the  account  which  the  author 
of  the  Answer  to  Lord  Bollingbroke''s  Philosophy  gives  us  of  Mr. 
Hobbes's  detestable  scheme  of  necessity  ;  and  it  behooves  Mr.  Toplady 
and  the  Calvinists  to  see,  if,  while  they  contend  for  their  absolute 
decrees,  and  for  the  doctrine  of  the  absolute  necessity  and  passiveness 
of  all  our  willings  and  motions,  they  do  not  inadvertently  confound 
matter  and  spirit,  and  make  way  for  Hobbes's  Materialism,  as  well  as 
forJiis  scheme  of  necessity, 

7.  The  moment  the  doctrine  of  Necessity  is  overthrown,  Mani- 
cheism,  Spinosism,  Hobbism,  and  the  spreading  religion  of  Mr.  Vol- 
taire, are  left  without  foundation  ;  as  well  as  that  part  of  Calvin's  sys- 
tem which  we  object  against.  And  we  beseech  Mr.  Toplady,  and  the 
contenders  for  Calvinian  decrees,  to  consider,  that  if  we  oppose  their 
doctrine,  it  is  not  from  any  prejudice  against  their  persons,  much  less 
against  God's  free  grace  ;  but  from  the  same  motive  which  would 
make  us  bear  our  testimony  against  Manes,  Spijiosa,  Hobbes,  and  Fol- 
taire,  if  they  would  impose  their  errors  upon  us  as  *'  doctrines  of 
grace."  Mr.  Wesley  and  I  are  ready  to  testify  upon  oath,  that  we 
humbly  submit  to  God's  sovereignty,  and  joyfully  glory  in  fne  free- 
ness  of  Gospel  grace,  which  has  mercifully  distinguished  us  from 
countless  myriads  of  our  fellow-creatures,  by  gratuitously  bestowing 
upon  us  numberless  favours,  of  a  spiritual  and  temporal  nature,  which 
he  has  thought  proper  absolutely  to  withhold  from  our  fellow-crea- 
tures. To  meet  the  Calvinists  on  their  own  ground,  we  go  so  far  as 
to  allow,  there  is  a  partial,  gratuitous  election  and  reprobation.  By 
this  election  Christians  are  admitted  to  the  enjoyment  of  privileges 
far  superior  to  those  of  the  Jews  :  and  according  to  this  reprobation 
myriads  of  Heathens  are  absolutely  cut  off  from  all  the  prerogatives, 
which  accompany  God's  covenants  of  peculiar  grace.  In  a  word, 
we  grant  to  the  Calvinists  every  thing  they  contend  for,  except  the 
\\ocAT\ne  of  Absohifc.  Xeressity:  Nay,   we    even  grant  the   necessary. 


ij%  REMARKS  ON  MR.  TOPLADY's  SCtlEME,  tkc. 

unavoidable  salvation  of  all  that  die  in  their  infancy.  And  our  love 
to  pea^ce  would  make  us  go  farther  to  meet  Mr.  Toplady,  if  we  could 
do  it  without  giving  up  the  justice,  mercy,  truth,  and  wisdom  of  God, 
together  with  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  the  equity  of  God's  para- 
disiacal and  mediatorial  laws,  the  propriety  of  the  day  of  judgment, 
and  the  reasonableness  of  the  sentences  of  absolution  and  condemna- 
tion, which  the  righteous  Judge  will  then  pronounce.  We  hope, 
therefore,  that  the  prejudices  of  our  Calvinian  brethren  will  subside, 
and  that,  instead  of  accounting  us  inveterate  enemies  to  truth,  they 
will  do  us  the  justice  to  say,  that  we  have  done  our  best  to  hinder 
them  from  inadvertently  betra}'ing  some  of  the  greatest  truths  of 
Christianity  into  the  hands  of  the  Manichees,  Materialists,  Infidels, 
and  Antinomians  of  the  age.  May  the  Lord  hasten  the  happy  day  in 
which  we  shall  no  more  waste  our  precious  time  in  attacking  or  de- 
fending the  truths  of  our  holy  religion  ;  but  bestow  every  moment  in 
the  sweetest  exercises  of  divine  and  brotherly  love  !  In  the  mean 
time,  if  we  must  contend  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  let 
us  do  it  with  a  plainness  that  may  etfectually  detect  error ;  and  with 
a  mildness  that  may  soften  our  most  violent  opponents.  Lest  1 
should  transgress  against  this  rule,  I  beg  leave  once  more  to  observe, 
that  though  I  have  made  it  appear  that  Mr.  Toplady's  Scheme  of 
JVecessity  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  most  horrid  errors  of 
Manicheism,  Materialism,  and  Hobbism,  yet  I  am  far  from  accusing 
him  of  wilfully  countenancing  any  of  those  bad  errors.  I  am  persuaded 
he  does  it  undesignedly.  The  badness  of  his  cause  obliges  him  to 
collect,  from  all  quarters,  every  shadow  of  argument  to  support  his 
favourite  opinion.  And  I  make  no  doubt,  but,  when  he  shall  candidly 
review  our  controversy,  it  will  be  his  grief  to  find,  that  in  his  hurry, 
he  hasxontended  for  a  scheme  which  gives  up  Christianity  into  the 
hands  w  her  greatest  enemies,  and  has  poured  floods  of  undeserve  ^ 
contempt  upon  Mr.  Wesley,  who  is  one  of  her  best  defenders- 


AN 


iis^rswisiB 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  DECREES,'^ 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  CHECKS. 


The  [absolute'^  "  predestination  of  some  to  life,  &c.  cannot  be  maintained  without  admitting 
the"  [atsoZw/e]  "reprobation  of  some  others  to  dea<A,  &c.  and  all  who  hare  subscribed  the 
said  article"  [the  XVII.  in  a  Calvinian  sense'\  "  are  bound  in  honour,  conscience,  and  lam,  tO 
defend" [Cafoiuian,  absolute]  "reprobation,  were  it  only  to  keep  the  XVIIth  article"  [taken 
in  a  Calvinian  sense]  "  upon  its  legs.''*  The  Rev.  Mr.  Toplady's  Hi'^tOrir  Proof  of  Calvin., 
ism,  p.  574. 


I 


INTRODUCTION 

W  HEN  the  author  of  Pietas  Oxoniensis  took  his  temporary  leave 
of  me  in  his  Finishing  Stroke,  he  recommended  to  the  pubHc  the  book 
which  I  am  going  to  answer.  His  recommendation  runs  thus  :  *'  who- 
soever will  consult  the  Rev.  Mr.  Toplady's  last  publication,  entitled, 
More  Work  for  Mr.  John  Wesley ,  [or,  A  Vindication  of  the  Decrees,  &c.] 
will  there  find  a  full  answer  to  all  those  cavils  which  Papists,  Soci- 
nians,  Pelasiians,  Arminians,  and  Perfectionists,  bring  against  those 
doctrines  commonly  called  Calvinist,  as  if  they  tended  to  promote 
licentiousness,  or  to  make  God  cruel,  unjust,  and  unmerciful,  and 
will  see  every  one  of  their  objections  retorted  upon  themselves  in  a 
most  masterly  manner."  Fin.  Stroke,  page  33.  Soon  after  Mr.  Hill 
had  thus  extolled  Mr.  Toplady's  performance,  I  was  informed  that 
many  of  the  Calvinists  said,  that  it  was  an  unanswerable  defence  of 
their  doctrines.  This  raised  in  me  a  desire  to  judge  for  myself;  and 
when  I  had  sent  for,  and  read  this  admired  book,  I  was  so  far  from 
being  of  Mr.  Hill's  sentiment,  that  I  promised  my  readers  to  demon- 
strate from  that  very  book,  the  inconclusiveness  of  the  strongest  argu- 
ments by  which  Calvinism  is  supported.  Mr.  Hill,  by  unexpectedly 
entering  the  lists  again,  caused  me  to  delay  the  fulfilling  of  my  pro- 
mise. But  having  now  completed  my  answer  to  his  fictitious  creeds, 
I  hasten  to  complete  also  my  Logica  Genevensis, 

Did  I  write  a  book  entitled  Charitas  Genevensis,  I  might  easily  show 
from  Mr.  Toplady's  performance,  that  "  The  doctrines  of  grace'"'  [so 
called]  are  closely  connected  with  "  The  doctrines  of  free  wrath.*' 
But  if  that  gentleman,  in  his  controversial  heat,  has  forgotten  what  he 
owed  to  Mr.  Wesley  and  to  himself,  this  is  no  reason  why  1  should 
forget  the  title  of  my  book,  which  calls  me  to  point  out  the  bad  argu- 
ments of  our  opponents,  and  not  their  ill  humour.  If  I  absurdly  spent 
my  time  in  passing  a  censure  upon  Mr.  Toplady's  spirit,  he  would 
with  reason  say,  as  he  does  in  the  Introduction  to  his  Historic  Proof, 
page  35,  "  After  all,  what  has  my  pride  or  my  humility  to  do  with 
the  argument  in  hand  ?  whether  I  am  haughty  or  meek,  is  of  no  more 

Vol.  IV.  9 


66  INTRODUCTION. 

consequence  either  to  that,  or  to  the  public,  than  whether  1  am  tall 
or  short."  Besides,  having  again  and  again  myself  requested  our 
opponents  not  to  wiredraw  the  controversy,  by  personal  reflections, 
but  to  weigh  with  candour  the  arguments  which  are  offered,  I  should 
be  inexcusable  if  I  did  not  set  them  the  example.  Should  it  be  said 
that  Mr.  Wesley's  character,  which  Mr.  Toplady  has  so  severely 
attacked,  is  at  stake,  and  that  I  ought  purposely  to  stand  up  in  his 
defence,  I  reply,  that  the  personal  charges  which  Mr.  Toplady  inter- 
weaves with  his  arguments,  have  been  already  fully  answered*  by 
Mr.  Olivers  ;  and  that  these  charges  being  chiefly  founded  upon  Mr. 
Toplady 's  logical  mistakes,  they  will,  of  their  own  accord,  fall  to  the 
ground,  as  soon  as  the  mistakes  on  which  they  rest  shall  be  exposed. 
U Logica  Genevensis  is  disarmed,  Charitas  Genevensis  will  not  be  able 
to  keep  the  field.  If  good  sense  take  the  former  prisoner,  the  latter 
will  be  obliged  to  surrender  to  good  nature.  Should  this  be  the  case, 
how  great  a  blessing  will  our  controversy  prove  to  both  parties ! 
The  conquerors  shall  have  the  glory  of  vindicating  truth :  and  the 
conquered  shall  have  the  profit  of  retiring  from  the  field  with  their 
judgments  better  informed,  and  their  tempers  better  regulated !  May 
the  God  of  truth  and  love  grant,  that  if  Mr.  Toplady  have  the  honour 
of  producing  the  best  arguments,  I  [for  one]  may  have  the  advantage 
of  yielding  to  them  !  To  be  conquered  by  truth  and  love^  is  to  prove 
t>onqueror  over  our  two  greatest  enemies,  error  and  sin, 

Madeley,  Oct,  1776. 

*  See  "  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Toplady,"  by  Mr.  Olivers. 


AN 

ANSWER 

TO    THE 

REV.  MR.  TOPLADY'S 

**  YI^BlCJiTIOJ^  OF  THE  DECREES,^^  ^c, 

-  >^  i*^  ^<  - 
SECTION  h 

Showing  thai  upon  the  Calvinian  scheme^  it  is  an  indubitable  truth, 
that  some  men  shall  be  saved  do  what  they  will,  till  the  effica* 
cious  decree  of  Calvinian  election  necessitate  them  to  repent  and 
be  saved;  and  that  others  shall  be  damned,  do  what  they  can, 
till  the  efficacious  decree  of  Calvinian  Reprobation  necessitate 
them  to  draw  back  and  be  damned- 

JL  HE  doctrinal  part  of  the  controversy   between  Mr.  Wesley  and 
Mr.  Toplady  may,  in  a  great  degree,  be  reduced  to  this  question  :  if 
God,  from  all  eternity,   absolutely  predestinated  a  fixed  number  of 
men,  called  the  elect,  to  eternal  life,  and  absolutely  predestinated  a 
fixed  number  of  men.  called  the  reprobate^  to  eternal  death,  does  it  not 
unavoidably   follow,   that  "  The  elect  shall  be  saved,  do  what  they  will  ;^ 
and  that  "  The  reprobate  shall  be  damned,  do  what  they  can?"     Mr. 
Wesley  thinks  that  the  consequence  is  undeniably  true  :  Mr.  Toplady 
says,  that  it  is  absolutely  false,  and  charges  Mr.  Wesley  with  "  coining 
blasphemous  propositions,"  yea,  with  ^'hatching  blasphemy,  and  then 
fathering  it  on  others,"    [page  7,  8]   and   in  a  note  upon  the  word 
blasphemous,  he  says,  "  This   epithet  is  not  too  strong.  To  say,  that 
any  shall  be  saved,  do  what  they  will,  and  others  damned,  do  what 
THEY  can,  is,  in  the  first  instance,  blasphemy  against  the  holiness 
of  God  ;  and,   in  the  second,  blasphemy  against  his  goodness  :"  and 
again,  p.  34.  after  repeating   the  latter  clause  of  the    consequence 
viz,  '•  The  reprebate  shall  be  damned,  do  what  they  can,"  he  expresses 


08  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY's 

himself  thus :  "  one  would  imagine  that  none  but  a  reprobate  could 
be  capable  of  advancing  a  position  so  execrably  shocking.  Surely  it 
must  have  cost  even  Mr.  Wesley  much,  both  of  time  and  pains,  to 
invent  the  idea,  &c.  Few  men's  invention  ever  sunk  deeper  into  the 
despicable,  launched  wider  into  the  horrid,  and  went  farther  in  the 
profane.  The  Satanic  guilt  of  the  person,  who  could  excogitate,  and 
publish  to  the  world,  a  position  like  that,  baffles  all  power  of  descrip- 
tion, and  is  only  to  be  exceeded  (if  exceedable)  by  the  Satanic  shame- 
lessness  which  dares  to  lay  the  black  position  at  the  door  of  other 
men.— Let  us  examine,  whether  any  thing,  occurring  in  Zanchius, 
could  justly  furnish  this  wretched  defamer  with  materials  for  a  deduc- 
tion so  truly  infernal."  Agreeably  to  these  spirited  complaints,  Mr. 
Toplady  calls  his  book,  not  only  "  More  Work  for  Mr.  J.  Wesley,^'' 
but  also,  "  A  Vindication  of  the*  Decrees  and  Providence  of  God,  from 
the  DEFAMATIONS  of  a  late  printed  paper  entitled,  "  The  consequence 
proved."  I  side  with  Mr.  Wesley  for  the  consequence  :  guarding  it 
against  cavils  by  a  clause,  which  his  love  for  brevity  made  him  think 
needless.  And  the  guarded  consequence  which  I  undertake  to  defend 
runs  thus  :  From  the  doctrine  of  the  absolute  and  unconditional  pre- 
destination of  some  men  to  eternal  life,  and  of  all"  others  to  eternal 
death,  it  necessarily  follows,  that  some  men  shall  be  saved,  do  what 
they  will,  till  the  absolute  and  efficacious  decree  of  election  actually 
necessitate  them  to  obey  and  be  saved,  and  that  all  the  rest  of  mankind 
shall  be  damned,  do  what  they  can,  till  the  absolute  and  efficacious 
decree  of  reprobation  necessitate  them  to  sin,  and  be  damned. 

An  illustration  will  at  once  show  the  justness  of  this  consequence 
to  the  unprejudiced  reader.  Fifty  fishes  sport  in  a  muddy  pond, 
where  they  have  received  life.  The  skilful  and  almighty  Owner  of 
the  pond  has  absolutely  decreed,  that  ten  of  these  fishes,  properly 
marked  with  a  shining  mark,  called  Election,  shall  absolutely  be 
caught  in  a  certain  net,  called  a  Gospel  net,  on  a  certain  day,  called  the 
day  of  his  porver  ;  and  that  they  shall,  every  one,  be  cast  into  a  delight- 
ful river,  where  he  has  engajred  himself,  by  an  eternal  covenant  of 
particular  redemption,  to  bring  them  without  fail.  The  same  omni- 
potent Proprietor  of  the  pond  has  likewise  absolutely  decreed,  that 
all  the  rest  of  the  fishes,  namely  forty,  which  are  properly  distin- 
guished by  a  black  mark,  called  Reprobation,  shall  never  be  caught  in 
the  Gospel  net ;  or  that,  if  they  are  entangled  in  it  at  any  time,  they 
shall  always  be  drawn  out  of  it,  and  so  shall  necessarily  continue  in 
the  rnuddy  pond,  till  on  a  certain  day,  called  the  day  of  his  xvrath,  he 
shall  sweep  the  pond  with  a  certain  net,  called  a  law  net,  catch  (hem 
all,  and  cast  them  into  a  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where   he   haf» 


VINDICATION  OP  THE  DECREES.  60 

engaged  himself,  by  an  everlasting  covenant  of  non-redemption,  to 
bring  them  all  without  fail,  that  they  may  answer  the  end  of  their 
predestination  to  death,  which  is  to  show  the  goodness  of  his  law  net, 
and  to  destroy  them  for  having  been  bred  in  the  muddy  pond,  and  for 
not  having  been  caught  in  the  Gospel  net.  The  owner  of  the  pond 
is  wise,  as  well  as  powerful.  He  knows,  that  absolutely  to  secure  the 
end  to  which  his  tishes  are  absolutely  predestinated,  he  must  also 
absolutely  secure  the  means  which  conduce  to  that  end  :  and  therefore 
that  none  may  escape  their  happy,  or  unfortunate  predestination,  he 
keeps  night  and  day  his  hold  of  them  all,  by  a  strong  hook,  called 
necessity,  and  by  an  invisible  line,  called  divine  decrees.  By  me^ns  of 
this  line  and  hook,  it  happens,  that  if  the  tithes  which  bear  the  mark 
of  election,  are  ever  so  loth  to  come  into  the  Gospel  net,  or  to  stay 
therein,  they  are  always  drawn  into  it  in  a  day  of  powerful  love  ;  and 
if  the  fishes  which  bear  the  mark  of  reprobation,  are  for  a  time,  ever 
so  desirous  to  wrap  themselves  in  the  Gospel  net,  they  are  always 
drawn  out  of  it  in  a  day  of  powerful  wrath.  For,  though  the  fishes 
seem  to  swim  ever  so  freely,  yet  their  motions  are  all  absolutely  fixed 
by  the  owner  of  the  pond,  and  determined  by  means  of  the  above- 
mentioned  line  and  hook.  If  this  is  the  case,  says  Mr.  Wesley,  ten 
fishes  shall  go  into  the  delightful  river,  let  them  do  what  they  will,  let 
them  plunge  in  the  mud  of  their  pond  ever  so  briskly,  or  leap 
towards  the  lake  of  fire  ever  so  often,  while  they  have  any  liberty  to 
plunge  or  to  leap.  And  all  the  rest  of  the  fishes,  forty  in  number, 
shall  go  into  the  lake  of  fire,  let  them  do  what  they  can,  let  them  in- 
volve themselves  ever  so  long  in  the  Gospel  net,  and  leap  ever  so 
often  towards  the  fine  river,  before  they  are  absolutely  necessitated 
to  go,  through  the  mud  of  their  own  pond,  into  the  sulphureous  pool. 
The  consequence  is  undeniable,  and  I  make  no  doubt  that  all  unpre- 
judiced persons  see  it  as  well  as  myself:  as  sure  as  two  and  two 
make  four,  or  if  you  please,  as  sure  as  ten  and  forty  make  fifty,  so 
sure  ten  fishes  shall  be  finally  caught  in  the  Gospel  net,  and  forty  in 
the  law  net. 

Should  Mr.  Toplady  say,  that  this  is  only  an  illustration,  I  drop  it, 
and  roundly  assert,  that  if  two  men,  suppose  Solomon  and  Absalom,  are 
absolutely  predestinated  to  eternal  life  ;  while  two  other  men,  suppose 
Mr.  Baxter  and  Mr.  Wesley,  are  absolutely  predestinated  to  eternal 
death:  the  two  elect  shall  be  saved,  do  what  they  will,  and  the  two 
reprobates  shall  be  damned,  do  what  they  can.  That  is,  let  Solomon 
and  Absalom  worship  the  abomination  of  the  Zidonians,  and  of  the 
Moabites,  in  ever  so  public  a  manner  ;  let  them,  for  years,  indulge 
themselves  with  heathenish  women,  collected  from  all  countries  ;    if 


70  ANSWER   TO   MIU    TOPLADY'S 

they  have  a  mind,  let  them  murder  their  brothers,  defile  their  sisters, 
and  imitate  the  incestuous  Corinthian,  who  took  his  own  father'g^ 
wife  :  yet,  they  can  never  really  endanger  their  finished  salvation^ 
The  indelible  mark  o{  unconditional  election  to  life  is  upon  them  :  and 
forcible,  victorious  grace  shall,  in  their  last  moments,  if  not  before^ 
draw  them  irresistibly  and  infallibly  from  iniquity  to  repentance. 
Death  shall  unavoidably  make  an  end  of  their  indwelling  sin ;  and  to 
heaven  they  shall  unavoidably  go.  On  the  other  hand,  let  a  Baxter 
and  a  Wesley  astonish  the  world  by  their  ministerial  labours  :  let 
them  write,  speak,  and  live  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  stem  the  torrent 
of  iniquity,  and  turn  thousands  to  righteousness  :  with  St.  Paul  let 
them  take  up  their  cross  daily,  and  preach  and  pray,  not  only  with 
tears,  but  with  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  power  :  let  un- 
wearied patience  and  matchless  diligence  carry  them  with  increasing 
fortitude  through  all  the  persecutions,  dangers,  and  trials,  which  they 
meet  with  from  the  men  of  the  world,  and  from  false  brethren  :  let 
them  hold  on  this  wonderful  way  to  their  dying  day  ;  yet,  if  the  in- 
delible mark  of  unconditional  reprobation  to  death  is  upon  them, 
necessitating,  victorious  wrath,  shall,  in  their  last  moments,  if  not 
before,  make  them  necessarily  turn  from  righteousness,  and  unavoida- 
bly draw  back  to  perdition  :  so  shall  they  be  fitted  for  the  lake  of  fire, 
the  end  to  which,  if  God  Calvinistically  passed  them  by,  they  were 
absolutely  ordained  through  the  predestinated  medium  of  remediless 
sin  and  final  apostacy. 

This  is  the  true  state  of  the  case  :  to  spend  time  in  proving  it, 
would  be  ofi'ering  the  judicious  reader  as  great  an  insult,  as  if  I 
detained  him  to  prove,  that  the  north  is  opposed  to  the  south.  But 
what  does  Mr.  Toplady  say  against  this  consequence,  "  if  Calvinism 
is  true^  the  reprobates  shall  be  damned  do  what  they  can  .^"  He  advances 
the  following  warm  argument. 

Argument  I.  Page  55.  "  Can  Mr.  Wesley  produce  a  single  in- 
stance of  any  one  man,  who  did  all  he  could  to  be  saved,  and  yet  was 
lost  ?  if  he  can,  let  him  tell  us  who  that  man  was,  where  he  lived, 
when  he  died,  what  he  did,  and  how  it  came  to  pass  he  laboured  in 
vain. — If  he  cannot^  let  him  either  retract  his  consequences,  or  con- 
tinue  to  be  posted  for  a  shameless  traducer." 

I  answer:  1.  To  require  Mr.  Wesley  to  show  a  man,  who  did  all 
he  could,  and  yet  was  lost,  is  requiring  him  to  prove  that  Calvinian 
reprobation  is  true ! — a  thing  this,  which  he  can  no  more  do,  than  he 
can  prove  that  God  is  false.  Mr.  Wesley  never  said  any  man  was 
damned  after  doing  his  best  to  be  saved  :  he  only  says,  that  if  Calvin- 
ism is  true,  the  reprobates  shall  all  be  damned,  though  they  should  a^- 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  DECREB5,  71 

do  their  best  to  be  saved,  till  the  efficacious  decree  of  their  absolute 
reprobation  necessitates  thena  to  draw  back  and  be  damned. 

2.  As  Mr.  Toplady's  bold  request  may  impose  upon  his  inattentive 
readers,  I  beg  leave  to  point  out  its  absurdity  by  a  short  illustration. 
Mr.  Wesley  says,  if  there  is  a  mountain  of  gold^  it  is  heavier  than  a 
handful  of  feathers,  and  his  consequence  passes  for  true  in  England  : 
but  a  gentleman,  who  teaches  logic  in  mystic  Geneva,  thinks  that  it  is 
absolutely  false,  and  that  Mr.  Wesley's  ^'forehead  must  be  petrified^ 
and  quite  impervious  to  a  Uush^^  for  advancing  it.  Can  Mr.  Wesley, 
says  he,  show  us  a  mountain  of  gold,  which  is  really  heavier  than  a 
handful  of  feathers?  If  he  can,  let  him  tell  us  what  mountain  it  is, 
where  it  lies,  in  what  latitude,  how  high  it  is,  and  who  did  ever  ascend 
to  the  top  of  it. — If  he  cannot,  let  him  either  retract  his  consequences, 
or  continue  to  be  posted  for  a  shameless  traducer. 

Equally  conclusive  is  Mr.  Toplady's  challenge  !  By  such  cogent 
arguments  as  these,  thousands  of  professors  are  bound  to  the  chariot- 
wheels  of  modern  orthodoxy,  and  blindly  follow  the  warm  men,  who 
drive  rs  furiously  over  a  part  of  the  body  of  Scripture  divinity,  as  the 
Son  of  Nimshi  did  over  the  body  of  cursed  Jezebel. 


SECTION  II. 

Calvinism  upon  its  legs,  or  a  full  view  of  the  arguments  by  which 
Mr.  Toplady  attempts  to  reconcile  Calvinism  with  God^s  holiness  :  — 
a  note  upon  a  letter  to  an  Arminian  teacher. 

Sensible  that  Calvinism  can  never  rank  among  the  doctrines  of 
holiness,  if  "  the  elect  shall  be  saved  do  what  they  will,"  and  if  the 
**  reprobate  shall  be  damned  do  what  they  can  :"  Mr.  Toplady  tries 
to  throw  off  from  his  doctrines  of  grace  the  deadly  weight  of  Mr. 
Wesley's  consequence.  In  order  to  this,  he  proves  that  Calvinism 
ensures  the  holiness  of  the  elect,  as  the  necessary  means  of  their  pre- 
destinated salvation:  but  he  is  too  judicious  to  tell  us  that  it  ensures 
also  the  wickedness  of  the  reprobate,  as  the  necessary  means  of  their 
predestinated  damnation.  To  make  us  in  love  with  his  Orthodoxy, 
he  presents  her  to  our  view  with  one  leg,  on  which  she  contrives  to 
stand,  by  artfully  leaning  upon  her  faithful  maid  Logica  Genevensis. 
Her  other  leg  is  prudently  kept  out  of  sight,  so  long  as  the  trial  about 
her  holiness  lasts.     This  deserves  explanation. 

The  most  distinguishing  and  fundamental  doctrines  of  Calvinism 
9re  two :  and  therefore  they  may  witli  propriety  be  called  the  legs  of 


72  ANSWER    TO   MR.    TOP^ADy's 

that  doctrinal  system.  The  ^rs^  of  these  fundamental  doctrines  is, 
the  personal,  unconditional,  ahsolute  predestination^  or  election  of  some 
men  to  eternal  life  ;  and  the  second  is  the  personal,  unconditional, 
absolute  predestination  or  reprobation  of  some  men  to  eternal  death. 
Nor  can  Mr.  Toplady  tind  fault  with  my  making  his  doctrine  of  grace 
stand  upon  her  legs,  Cahinian  election  and  Cahinian  reprobation :  for, 
supposing  that  our  church  speaks  in  her  xviith  Article  of  Calvinian, 
absolute  predestination  to  eternal  life,  he  says  himself,  in  his  Historic 
Proof,  page  574,  "  The  predestination  of  some  to  life,  asserted  in  the 
*'  xviith  Article,  cannot  be  maintained  without  admitting  the  reproba- 
'*  tion*  of  some  others  to  death,  &c.  and  all  who  have  subscribed  to 

*■  Our  opponents  are  greatly  embarrassed  about  the  doctrine  of  absolute,  unconditional 
reprobation  ;  though  in  a  happj  moment,  where  candour  prevailed  over  shame,  Mr.  Top- 
lady  stood  up  so  boldly  for  Calvinian  reprobation  :  the  reader,  as  he  goes  on  will  smile, 
when  he  sees  the  variegated  wisdom,  with  which  that  gentleman  disguises,  exculpates,  or 
conceals,  what  he  so  rationally  and  so  candidly  grants  here. 

The  truth  is,  that  as  scriptural  election  is  necessarily  attended  with  an  answerable  repro- 
bation ;  so  absob/te,  Calvinian  election  unavoidably  drags  after  it  absolute  Calvinian  repro- 
bation;— a  black  reprobation  this,  which  necessitates  all  who  are  personally  written  in  the 
book  of  death,  to  sin  on  and  be  damned.  But  some  Calvinists  are  afraid  to  see  this  doc- 
trine, and  well  they  may,  for  it  is  horrible  ;  others  are  ashamed  to  acknowledge  it ;  and 
not  a  (ew^  for  want  of  rational  sight,  obstinately  deny  that  it  is  the  main  pillar  of  their 
Gospel ;  and  with  the  right  leg  of  their  system  they  unmercifully  kick  the  left.  Among 
the  persons  who  are  g^uilty  of  this  absurd  conduct,  we  may  rank  the  author  of  A  letter  to 
an  Arminian  Teacher :  an  imperfect  copy  of  which  appeared  in  The  Gospel  Magazine  of 
August,- 1775,  under  the  following  title,  A  Predestinarian's  reaZ  Thoughts  of  Election  and 
Reprobation.,  &c.  This  writer  is  so  inconsistent,  as  to  attempt  cutting  off  the  left  leg  of 
Calvinism.  He  at  first  f-pves  us  reprobation.  "  The  word  reprobation''''  [says  he]  "  is 
never  mentioned  in  all  the  Scripture"  [no  more  is  the  word  predestination]  "  nor  is  the 
scriptural  word  reprobate  ever  mentioned  as  the  consequence  of  election,  or  as  [its]  oppo- 
site."— This  is  a  great  nriistake,  as  appears  from  the  two  first  passages  quoted  by  this  author, 
Jer.  vi.  30.  and  Rom.  i.  28.  where  reprobate  silver  is  evidently  opposed  to  choice  silver,  and 
where  a  reprobate  mind  is  indubitably  opposed  to  the  mind  which  is  after  God''s  own  heart 
— 5.  e.  to  the  mind  which  God  approves  and  chooses  to  crown  with  evangelical  praises  and 
rewards.     Our  authoi*  goes  on : 

*'  There  is  no  immtjdiate  connexion  between  election  to  salvation  and  reprobation  to  dam- 
nation." What  an  argument  is  this  !  did  we  ever  say  that  there  is  any  immediate  connexion 
between  two  things  which  are  as  contrary  as  Christ  and  Belial  ! — Oh!  but  we  mean  that 
"  they  have  no  necessary  dependence  on  each  other." — The  question  is  not  whether  they 
have  a  "  necessary  dependence  on  each  other  ,•"  but,  whether  they  have  not  a  necessary 
orposiTiON  to  each  other;  and  that  they  have,  is  as  clear  as  that  light  is  opposed  to  dark- 
ness.— "They  proceed  from  very  different  causes," — True:  for  election  proceeds  from 
free  grace,  diiid  Calvinian  reprobation  hom  fr-ec  wrath. — *' The  sole  cause  oi  election  is 
God's  free  love,  &;c.  The  sole  cause  of  damnatio.\  is  only  sin." — Our  author  wants  can- 
dour or  attention.  Had  he  argued  like  a  candid  logician,  he  would  have  said,  "  The  sole 
cause  of  the  reprohdtion  which  ends  in  unavoidable  damnation  is  only  sin  :"  but  if  he  had 
fairly  argued  thus,  he  would  have  given  up  Calvinism,  which  stands  or  falls  with  absolute 
•reprobation ;  and  therefore,  he  thought  proper  to  substitute  the  word  damnation  for  the 
word  REPROBATION  which  the  argument  absolutely  requires.  These  tricks  may  pass  in 
Geneva;    but  in  England  they  appear  inconsistent  with  fair  reasoning.     It  is  a  common 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  73 

"  the  said  Article,  are  bound  in  honour,  conscience^  and  law  to  defend 
•'  reprobation,  were  it  only  to  keep  the  xviith  Article,"  for  rather,  the 
Calvinian  sensfe  which  Mr.  Toplady  fixes  to  that  Article]  "  upon 
"  its  legs.''' 

Agreeably  to  Mr.  Toplady's  charge,  Calvinism  shall  stand  upon  its 
legs.  He  takes  care  to  ghow  the  right  leg,  in  order  to  vindicate  God's 
holiness  upon  the  Calvinian  plan  ;  and  I  shall  set  forth  the  left  leg,  in 
order  to  show  that  the  honour  of  God's  holiness  is  as  incompatible 
with  Calvinism,  as  light  with  darkness.  Mr.  Toplady's  arguments 
are  produced  under  No.  1.  with  the  number  of  the  page  in  his  book 
where  he  advances  them.     In  the  opposite  column,  under  No.  2.  the 

stratag^em  of  the  Calvinists  to  say,  "  Election  depends  upon  God's  love  only,  but  damnation 
depends  upon  our  sin  only;"  break  the  thin  shell  of  this  sophism,  and  you  will  find  this 
bitter  kernel ;  "  God's  distinguishing  love  elects  some  to  unavoidable  holiness  and  finished 
salvation;  and  his  distinguishing  wrath  reprobates  all  the  rest  of  mankind  to  remediless 
sin  and  eternal  damnation."  For,  the  moment  the  sin  of  reprobates  is  necessary,  remedi- 
less, and  ensured  by  the  decree  of  the  means,  it  follows  that  absolute  reprobation  to  neces- 
sary, remediless  sin,  is  the  same  thing  as  absolute  reprobation  to  eternal  damnation ;  because 
such  a  damnation  is  the  unavoidable  consequence  of  remediless  sin. 

When  the  letter-writer  has  absurdly  denied  Calvinian  reprobation,  he  insinuates,  p.  5. 
that  "  everlasting  torments^''  and  "  being  unavoidably  damned,''''  are  not  the  necessary  con- 
sequences of  the  decree  of  Calvinian  election  ;  "  nor  [says  he]  can  they  be  Jairly  deduced 
from  THE  DECREE  OF  REPROBATION." — So,  now,  thc  secrct  is  out!  Our  author,  after 
denying  reprobation,  informs  us  that  there  is  a  Calvinian  decree  of  reprobation.  But  if 
there  be  such  a  decree,  why  did  he  oppose  it,  p.  2. .''  And  if  there  be  no  such  decree,  why 
does  he  mention  it,  p.  5.  where  he  hints  that  ensured  damnation  cannot  be  fairly  deduced 
from  it?  Now,  if  he,  or  any  Calvinist  in  the  world,  can  prove  that,  upon  the  Calvinian 
plan,  among  the  thousands  of  Calvin's  reprobates,  who  are  yet  in  their  mothers'  wombs,  one 
of  them  can,  any  how,  avoid  finished  damnation,  I  solemnly  engage  mysrlf  before  the 
public,  to  get  my  Checks  burnt  at  Charing-cross  by  the  common  hangman,  on  any  day 
which  iVlr.  Hill,  Mr.  Toplady,  and  Mr.  M'Gowan  will  please  to  appoint.  But  if  the  Cal- 
vinists cannot  do  this,  and  if  the  Calvinian  decree  of  reprobation  ensures  the  necessary, 
remediless  sin,  and  the  unavoidable  finished  damnation  of  one  and  all  the  reprobates  of 
Calvin,  born  or  unborn ;  Mr.  M'Gowan,  and  Dr.  Gill,  whom  he  quotes,  insult  common 
sense,  when  they  intimate,  that  ensured  damnation  "  cannot  be  fairly  deduced  from  thc 
decree  of  reprobation.''^  How  much  less  candid  are  the  letter-writer  and  Dr.  Gill,  than 
Mr.  Toplady  and  Zanchius,  who  fairly  tell  us,  p.  75.  "  The  condemnation  [i.  e.  the  dam- 
nation] of  the  reprobate  is  necessary  and  irresistible  !" 

The  letter  writer  tells  us,  p.  6.  "  what  ensures  holiness  must  ensure  glory  ;  election 
[i.  e.  Calvinian  election]  doth  so,  and  glory  must  follow."  This  is  the  right  leg  of  Cal- 
vinism :  let  her  stand  upon  the  left  leg,  and  you  have  this  "  doctrine  of  grace ;"  xvhat 
ensures  remediless  sin,  must  ensure  damnation  ;  Calvinian  reprobation  doth  so,  and  darn- 
nation  MUST  FOLLOW.  I  would  as  soon  bow  to  Dagon,  as  to  this  doctrine  of  remediless  sin 
and  ensured  wickedness.  O  ye  controversial  writers  of  the  Gospel  Magazine!  if  you 
will  confirm  "  Arminian  teachers'''  in  their  attachment  to  the  holy  election  and  righte- 
ous reprobation  preached  by  St.  Paul,  and  in  their  detestation  of  tJ^  Antinomian  ekctiou 
and  barbarous  reprobation  which  support  your  doctrinal  peculiarities,  only  vindicate  your 
Heclion  as  inconsistently  as  Mr.  M'Gowan,  and  your  reprobation  as  openly  as  Mr.  Top- 
lady.— [See  two  other  notes  on  the  same  performance  ;  the  one  under  the  Arg.  xx"xvi!l. 
and  the  other  under  thp  Arg.  Ixvii.] 

Vol.  IV.  10 


74 


ANSWER    TO   MR.    TOPLADY^S 


reader  ivill  find  my  answer,  which  is  nothing  but  Mr.  Toplady's  owo 
arguments,  retorted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  defend  the  second  Gospel 
axiom,  which  Calvinism  entirely  overthrows.  No.  1.  displays  the 
unguarded  manner  in  which  Mr.  Toplady  defends  the  first  Gospel 
axiom.  To  form  No.  2.  I  only  make  his  arguments  stand  upon  the 
other  leg,  and  by  this  simple  method  1  show  the  lameness  of  Calvin- 
ism, and  the  infamy  which  she  pours  upon  God's  holiness  and  good- 
ness, under  fair  shows  of  regard  for  these  adorable  attributes. 

The  Right  Leg  of  Calvinism,  or  The  Left  Leg  of  Calvinism,  or  the 
the  Calvinian  doctrine  of  election  Calviman  doctrine  of  reproba- 
and  NECESSARY  holiness.  Hon  and  necessary  wickedness^ 


Arg.  H.  No.  1.  [page  17.]  "I 
aflirm  with  Scripture,  that  they 
[the  elect]  cannot  be  saved  with- 
out sanctijication  and  obedience. 
Yet  is  not  their  salvation  preca- 
rious :  for,  that  very  decree  of 
flection,  by  which  they  were 
nominated  and  ordained  to  eternal 
life,  ordained  their  intermediate 
renewal  after  the  image  of  God, 
in  righteousness  and  true  holiness. 
Nay,  that  renewal  is  itself  the 
dawn  and  beginning  of  actual 
salvatio7i.''' 


Answer.  No.  2.  1  affirm  with 
Calvinism,  that  the  reprobates  can- 
not be  damned  without  wickedness 
and  disobedience.  Yet  is  not  their 
damnation  precarious  :  for,*  that 
very  decree  of  reprobation,  by 
which  they  were  nominated  and 
ordained  to  eternal  death,  ordained 
their  intermediate  conformity  to 
the  image  of  the  devil,  in  sin  and 
true  wickedness.  Nay,  that  con- 
formity is  itself  the  dawn  and 
beginning  of  actual  damnation. 


RIGHT  LEG. 


LEFT  LEG, 


Arg.  III.  No.  1.  [page  17.] 
«■  The  elect  could  no  more  be  saved 
without  personal  holi7iess,  than 
they  could  be  saved  without  per- 
sonal existence.  And  why  ?  be- 
cause God's  own  decree  secures 
the  means  as  well  as  the  end,  and 
accomplishes  the  end  by  the  means. 
The  same  gratuitous  predestina- 
lion,  which  ordained  the  existence 
of  the  elect,  as  men  ;  ordained 
their  purification,  as  saints;    and 


Answer.  No.  2.  The  reprobates 
could  no  more  be  damned  without 
personal  wickedness,  than  they 
could  be  damned  without  personal 
existence.  And  why  ?  because 
God's  own  decree  secures  the 
means  as  well  as  the  end,  and 
accomplishes  the  end  by  the  means. 
The  same  gratuitous  predestina- 
tion which  ordained  the  existence 
of  the  reprobate,  as  men  ;  or- 
dained their  pollution,  as  sinners ; 


Vindication  of  the  decrees*  75 

they  were  ordained    to  both,   in  and  they   were  ordjained  to  hotli, 

order  to  their    being  finally  and  in  order  to  their  being  finally  and 

completely   saved  in   Christ  with  completely  damned  in  Adam  with 

eternal  glory.^^  eternal  shame. 

Before  I  produce  the  next  argument,  I  think  it  ts  proper  to  observe, 
that  the  Election  of  Grace,  which  St.  Paul  defends,  is  not,  as  Calvin 
supposes,  an  absolute  election  to  eternal  life,  through  necessitated 
holiness  :  an  election  this,  which  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  drags 
after  it  an  absolute  reprobation  to  eternal  death,  through  remediless  sin. 
But  the  apostle  means  a  gratuitous  election  to  the  privileges  of  the 
best  covenant  of  peculiarity, — a  most  gracious  covenant  this,  which 
is  known  under  the  name  of  Christianity — The  Gospel  of  Christ,  or 
simply  The  Gospel,  by  way  of  eminence.  For,  as  by  a  partial  elec- 
tion of  distinguishing  favour,  the  Jews  were  once  chosen  to  be  God's 
peculiar  ,people,  [at  which  time  the  Gentiles  were  reprobated,  with 
respect  to  Jewish  privileges ;  being  left  under  the  inferior  Gospel 
dispensation  of  reprieved  Adam,  and  spared  Noah,]  so,  when  the 
Jews  provoked  God  to  reject  them  from  being  his  peculiar  people, 
he  elected  the  Gentiles,  to  whom  he  sent  the  Gospel  of  Christ :  he 
elected  them,  I  say,  and  called  them  to  believe  this  precious  Gospel, 
and  to  be  holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation,  as  becomes  Christians. 
But,  far  from  absolutely  electing  these  Gentiles  to  eternal  salvation, 
through  unavoidable  holiness  Calvinistically  imposed  upon  them,  he 
charged  them  by  his  messengers  to  make  their  Christian  calling  and 
election  sure,  lest  they  also  should  be  cut  oj^,  as  the  Jews  had  been,  for 
not  making  their  Jewish  calling  and  election  sure.  In  short,  the  elec- 
tion of  grace,  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  is  a  gratuitous  election  to 
run  the  Christian  race  with  Paul,  Peter,  and  James  ;  rather  than  the 
Jeza)ish  race  with  Moses,  David,  and  Daniel  ;  or  the  race  of  Gentilism 
with  Adam,  Enoch,  and  Noah.  It  is  a  gracious  election,  which  im- 
plies no  merciless,  absolute  reprobation  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  And 
the  Calviuists  are  greatly  mistaken,  when  they  confound  this  election, 
with  our  judicial  election  to  receive  the  crown  of  lite,  a  rewarding 
crown  this,  the  receiving  of  which  depends,  1.  On  i\\Q  grace  of  God 
in  Christ,  and  2.  On  the  iwluntary  obedience  of  faith  ;  and  will  be 
judicially  bestowed  according  to  the  impartiality  of  justice  :  and  not 
according  to  the  partiality  of  grace^ 


76 


ANSWER  TO  MR.  T@i'LADY's 


RIGHT  LEG. 

Arg.  IV.  No.   1.    [page   18.] 
*'  God  the  Father  hath  chosen  us 
in  Christy  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  that  we  should   [not 

"  be  saved  do  "what  we  will ;"  but] 
he  holy  and  without  blame  before 
him  in  love,  Eph.  i.  7.  Election 
is  always  followed  by  regeneration^ 
and  regeneration  is  the  source  of 
all  good  works." 


LEFT  LEG. 

Answer.  No.  2.  God  the  Father 
hath  reprobated  us  in  Mam,  be- 
fore the  foundation  of  the  world, 
that  we  should  [not  be  damned  do 
what  we  will ;  but^  be  unholy  and 
full  of  blame  before  him  in  malice. 
Reprobation  is  always  followed  by 
apostacy ;  and  apostacy  is  the 
source  of  all  bad  works. 


RIGHT   LEG. 

Arg.  V.  No.  1.  [page  18.]  "  We 
[the  elect]  are  his  subsequent 
workmanship,  created  anew  in 
Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works, 
which  God  hath  fore-ordained 
that  we  should  walk  in  them. 
Consequently  it  does  not  follow 
from  the  doctrine  of  absolute  pre- 
destination, that  *  the  elect  shall 
be  saved,  do  what  they  will.' 
On  the  contrary,  they  are  chosen 
as  much  to  holiness  as  to  heaven  ; 
and  are  fore-ordained  to  walk  in 
good  works,  by  virtue  of  their 
election  from  eternity,  and  of 
their  conversion  in  time." 


LEFT  LEG. 

Answer.  No.  2.  We  .[the  re- 
probates] are  his  subsequent 
workmanship,  created  anew  in 
Adam  unto  bad  works,  which  God 
hath  fore-ordained  that  we  should 
walk  in  them.  Consequently  it 
does  not  follow  from  the  doctrine 
of  absolute  predestination,  that 
"  the  reprobates  shall  be  damned, 
do  what  they  will."  On  the  con- 
trary, they  are  reprobated  as  much 
to  wickedness  as  to  hell;  and  are 
fore-ordained  to  walk  in  bad 
works,  by  virtue  of  their  reproba- 
tion from  eternity,  and  of  their 
reprobation  from  eternity,  and  of 
their  perversion  in  time. 


RIGHT  LEG. 


Arg.  VI.  No.  1.  [page  18,  19.] 
'•  Yet  again,  God  hath  from  the 
beginning  [i.  e.  from  everlasting, 
&,c.]  chosen  you  to  salvation  through 
sanctification  of  the  Spirit  and  be- 
lief of  the  truth:  2  Thess.  ii.  13. 
All,  therefore,  who  are  chosen  to 
salvation,  are  no  less  unalterably 


LEFT  LEG, 

Answer.  No.  2,  Yet  again > 
God  hath  from  the  beginning 
[i.  e.  from  everlasting]  reprobated 
you  to  damnation  through  pollu- 
tion of  the  spirit  and  disbelief  of  i 
the  truth.  All,  therefore,  who  1 
are  reprobated  to  damnation,  are 
no   less   unalterably   destined   to 


VINDICATION  Ot  THE 

destined  to  holiness  and  faith  i*^ 
the  mean  while.     And  if  so, 
giving  God  himself  the  lie  to 
that  '  the  elect  shall  be   sava 
what  they  will.''      For   the   t 
like  the  blessed  person  wh 
deemed  them,  come  into  the  w 
not  to  do  their  own  will,  but  the 
will  of  him  that  sent  them :    and 
this  is  the  will  of  God  concernir 
them,    even    their    sanctificati 
Hence  they  are  expressly  sa- 
be    elect    unto    obedience. 
indeed  chosen   because  of 

cncc,  but  chosen  unto  it :  for 

are  not  the  foundation  of 

but  streams  flowing  from  it. 

tion  does  not  depend  up( 

ness,  but    holiness   depend 

election.       So    far,   then 

predestination  from  bei»~ 

sive  of  good  works;  t' 

tination  is  the  prima 

the  good  works,  w^ 

and  shall  be  wro 

beginning  to  the  e 


Dreadfully  C 
perfectly  agre 
and  his  bandy 
soners  at  the 
goes  for  notb 
are  capital,  a 
The  first  is  " 
says  in  his  ti 
divine  decre 
pass  by  virti 
things  come 
man  does,  1 
according  to 


TO   MR.    tOPLADY^S 

Wi 

think  inwardly.*'— P.  7.  "  The 

cause  of  all  things." — P.  11. 

nd  others  perish,  proceeds 

ier,  and  the  perdition  of  the 

God  from  eternity  willed  and 

ill  of  the  creature  can  resist 

,e  or  decree  of  God  signifies 

e   men  to  life,  and  of  others  to 

entirely  from  his    own   free  and 

n  the  elect  and  the  reprobate, 

t  neither  can  be  otherwise  than 

the  alone  cause  why  some  are 

red  of  no  effect."— P.  56. 

^  1  to  thfe  non-elect,  if  it  was 

The  condemnation  of  the 

P.  25.  "  God  worketh  all 

eked." 

ed  words  of  which  I  have 

-alvinism  ;  and  taking  my 

n  to  the  vindication  of  the 

doctrine  of  grace  stand 

3  death,  as  well  as  on 


T    LEG. 

2.     Reason  also 

ure,  in  asserting 

e    necessity    of 

the    footing  of 

id  irrespective 

other  words, 

the  end  does 

nsure  the  in 


was  neces- 

ey  [the  re^ 

only  be  ap 


VINDICATION   OF    THE    DECREES. 


79 


not  onl^'  be  redeemed  from  pun- 
ishment, and  entitled  to  heaven ; 
but  endued  moreover  with  an 
internal  meetness  for  that  inherit- 
ance. This  internal  meetness 
for  heaven  can  only  be  wrought 
by  the  restoring  agency  of  God 
the  Holy  Ghost,  who  grac^sly 
engaged  and  took  upon  Klmself,'- 
in  the  covenant  of  peace,  to  renew 
and  sanctify  all  the  elect  people  of 
God  ;  saying,  /  will  put  my  law 
in  their  minds. — Elect,  kc.  through 
sanciification  of  the  Spirit  unto 
obedience. — Election,  though  pro- 
ductive of  good  works,  is  not 
founded  upon  them  :  on  the  con- 
trary, they  are  one  of  the  glorious 
ends,  to  which  they  are  chosen. 
Saints  do  not  bear  the  root,  but 
the  root  them.  Elect  unto  obedi- 
ence. They  who  have  been 
elected,  &,c.  shall  experience  the 
Holy  Spirit's  sanctificatlon,  in  be- 
ginning, advancing,  and  perfect- 
ing the  work  of  grace  in  their 
souls. — The  elect,  &c.  are  made 
to  obey  the  commandments  of  God, 
and  to  imitate  Christ,  &c.  1  said, 
gnade  to  obey.  Here  perhaps  the 
unblushing  Mr.  Wesley  may  ask, 
are  the  elect  then  mere  machines  ? 
I  answer,  no.  They  are  made 
■willing  in  the  day  of  God's 
power."* 


pointed  to  punishment,  and  en- 
titled to /te// ;  but  endued  more- 
over with  an  internal  meetness 
for  that  inheritance. — This  in-  ^1^ 
ternal  meetness  for  hell,  can  only 
be  wrought  by  the  perverting 
agency  of  [the  Manichean]  god 
the  unholy  ghost,  who  officiously 
engaged  and  took  upon  himself,  in 
the  covenant  of  wrath,  to  pervert 
and  defile  all  the  reprobate  people 
of  God  ;  saying,  /  will  put  my  law 

in  their  minds. Reprobate,  &c. 

through  pollution  of  the  spirit 
unto  disobedience. — Reprobation^ 
though  productive  of  bad  works, 
is  not  founded  upon  them  :  on  the 
contrary,  they  are  one  of  the  in- 
glorious ends,  to  which  they  are 
reprobated.  Sinners  do  not  bear 
the  root,  but  the  root  them.  Re-  ^ 
'probate  unto  disobedience. — They 
who  have  been  reprobated,  he- 
shall  experience  the  wicked 
spirit's  pollution,  in  beginning, 
advancing,  and  perfecting  the 
work  of  sin  in  their  souls. — The 
reprobates,  Sic.  are  inade  to  dis- 
obey the  commandments  of  God, 
and  to  imitate  Satan,  &c.  1  said, 
made  to  disobey.  Here  perhaps 
the  blushing  Mr.  Wesley  may  ask, 
are  the  reprobates  then  mere  ma- 
chines ?  I  answer,  no.  They 
are  made  willing  in  the  day  of 
God's  power. 


*  Here  Mr.  Topladj  adds,  "  and  I  believe  nobod_y  ever  yet  heard  oi  a  willing  machined 
But  he  is  mistaken :  for  all  moral  philosophers  call  machine  whatever  is  fitted  for  free 
motions,  and  yet  has  no  power  to  begin  and  determine  its  own  motions.  Now  willing  being 
the  motion  of  a  spirit,  if  a  spirit  cannot  tvill  but  as  it  is  necessarily  made  to  will,  it  is  as  void 
of  a  self-determining  principle,  as  a  fii-e-engine,  aod  of  consequence  it  is  [morally  speaking] 
as  mere  a  machine. 


50  ANSWER   TO   MR.   TOPLADY's 

RIGHT    LEG.  LEFT    LEG. 


Arg.  XI.  No.  1.  [page  23, 
24.]  "  God  decreed  to  bring  his 
elect  to  glory,  in  a  way  of  sancti- 
Jication,  and  in  no  other  way  but 
that.  If  SO5  cries  Mr.  Wesley. 
'  They  shall  be  saved,  whether 
they  are  sanctified  or  no.'  What, 
notwithstanding  their  sanctijication 
i«,  itself,  an  essential  branch  of 
the  decree  concerning  them? 
The  man  may  as  well  aflfirm  that 
Abraham  might  have  been  the 
progenitor  of  nations  though  he 
had  died  in  infancy,  &c.  Equally 
illogical  is  Mr.  Wesley's  impu- 
dent slander,  that  '  the  elect  shall 
be  saved  do  what  they  will,'  i.  e. 
whether  they  be  holy  or  not." 


Answer.  No.  2.  God  decreed 
to  bring  his  reprobate  to  hell  in  a 
way  of  sinning,  and  in  no  other 
way  but  that.  If  so,  cries  Mr. 
Wesley,  "  they  shall  be  damned, 
whether  they  sin  or  no." — What, 
notwithstanding  their  sinning  is, 
itself,  an  essential  branch  of  the 
decree  concerning  them  ?  "  The 
man  may  as  well  affirm,  that  Paul 
might  have  preached  the  Gospel, 
viva  voce^  in  fifty  different  re- 
gions, without  travelling  a  step !" 
P.  23.  Equally  illogical  is  Mr 
Wesley's  impudent  slander,  that 
"the  reprobate  shall  be  damned, 
do  what  they  will,"  i  e.  whether 
they  be  wicked  or  not. 


right  leg. 

Arg.  X.  No.  1.  [page  20.] 
**  Paul's  travelling  and  Paul's 
utterance,  were  as  certainly  and 
as  necessarily  included  in  the  de- 
cree of  the  means,  as  his  preach- 
ing was  determined  by  the  decree 
of  the  end.'''' 


LEFT  leg. 

Answer.  No.  2.  The  rich  glut- 
ton's gluttony,  and  his  unmerciful- 
ness,  were  as  certainly  and  as 
necessarily  included  in  the  decree 
of  the  means,  as  his  being  tor- 
mented in  hell  was  determined  by 
the  decree  of  the  end. 


right  leg. 


LEFT    LEG. 


Arg.  XI.  Nol.  [page  28,  29.] 
''  Love  when  [Calvinistically]  pre- 
dicated of  God,  signifies  his  eter- 
nal benevolence :  i.  e.  his  ever- 
lasting will,  purpose,  and  deter- 
mination, to  deliver,  bless,  and 
save  his  [elect]  people.  In  order 
to  the  eventual  accomplishment 
of  that  miration  in  the  next  world, 


Answer.  No  2.  Hate,  when 
Calvinistically  predicated  of  God, 
signifies  his  eternal  ill  will :  i.  e. 
his  everlasting  will,  purpose,  and 
determination,  to  enthral,  curse, 
and  damn  his  [reprobated]  people. 
— In  order  to  the  eventual  accom- 
plishment of  that  damnation  in 
the  next  world  wickedness  is  given 


VINDICATION    OP    THE    DECREES. 


81 


grace  is  given  them  in  this,  to  pre- 
serve them,  (and  preserve  them 
it  does)  from  doing  the  evil  they 
otherwise  would.  This  is  all  the 
election  which  Calvinism,  &:c.  con- 
tends for;  even  a  predestination 
to  holiness  and  heaven.''^ 


them  in  this,  to  preserve  them, 
(and  preserve  them  it  does)  from 
doing  the  good  they  otherwise 
would.  This  is  all  the  reproba- 
tion which  Calvinism  contends 
for ;  even  a  predestination  to 
"mickedness  and  hell. 


RIGHT    LEG. 


LEFT    LEG. 


Arg.  XII.  No.  1.  [page  33.] 
*•  Now,  if  it  be  the  Father's  will, 
that  Christ  should  lose  none  of  his 
elect :  if  Christ  himself,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  covenant-dona- 
tion to  him,  does  actually  give 
unt6  them  eternal  life,  and  so- 
lemnly avers,  that  they  shall 
never  perish :  if  God  be  ^o  for 
them,  that  none  can  hinder  their 
salvation,  kc.  if  they  cannot  be 
condemned,  and  nought  shall  se- 
parate them  from  the  love  of 
Christ ;  it  clearly  and  inevitably 
follows,  that,  Not  one  of  the 
elect  can  perish;  but  they  must  all 
necessarily  be  saved.  Which 
salvation  consists  as  much  in  the 
recovery  of  moral  rectitude  below, 
as  in  the  enjoyment  of  eternal 
blessedness  above.'^ 


Answer.  No.  2.  Now,  if  it  be 
the  Father's  will,  that  Satan 
should  lose  7ione  of  his  repro- 
bate ;  if  Satan  himself,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  covenant-dona- 
tion to  him,  does  actually  give 
unto  them  eternal  death,  and  so- 
lemnly avers,  that  they  shall 
never  escape ;  if  God  be  so  against 
them,  that  none  can  hinder  their 
damnation,  Szc.  if  they  cannot  be 
justified,  and  nought  shall  sepa- 
rate them  from  the  hate  of  Christ ; 
it  clearly  and  inevitably  follows, 
that.  Not  one  of  the  reprobate 
can  escape :  but  they  must  all 
necessarily  be  damned.— 'Which 
damnation  consists  as  much  in 
the  being  stripped  of  moral  recti- 
tude on  earth,  as  in  the  enduring 
of  eternal  torments  in  hell. 


By  such  wrested  texts,  and  delusive  arguments  as  these,  it  is,  that 
Mr.  Toplady  has  vindicated  God's  holiness  upon  Calvinian  principles. 
Now,  as  he  requests  that  Calvinism  may  stand  upon  its  legs,  that  is, 
upon  absolute  election  and  absolute  reprobation ;  I  appeal  to  all  the 
unprejudiced  wor  Id  have  I  not  made  the  Diana  of  the  Calvinists 
stand  straight  ?  Have  I  not  suffered  her  to  rest  upon  her  left  leg,  as 
well  as  upon  the  right?  If  that  leg  terminates  in  a  horribly  cloven 
foot  ;  is  it  Mr.  Wesley's  fault  or  mine  ?  Have  we  formed  the  doc- 
trinal image  which  is  set  up  in  mystical  Geneva  ?  Is  the  quotation 
produced  in  my  motto  forged  ?  Is  not  absolute  reprobation  one  of  "  the 

Vol.  IV,  11 


S2  ANSWER   TO    MR. 

doctrines  of  grace"  [so  called]  as  well  as  absolute  eleetion  ?  May  I  ncsi; 
show  the  full  face  of  Calvinism  as  well  as  her  ndt  face  ?  If  a  mao 
pay  roe  a  guinea,  have  I  not  a  right  to  suspect  that  it  is  false,  and  to 
turn  it,  if  he  that  wants  to  pass  it  will  never  let  me  see  the  reverse 
of  it  in  a  clear  light  ?  Can  Mr.  Toplady  blame  me  for  holding  forth 
Calvinian  reprobation?  Can  he  find  fault  with  me  for  shorming  what  he 
says,  *'  I  am  not  only  bound  to  show^  but  to  defend  .^"  If  Calvinism  be 
*^  Ihe  doctrine  of  grace, ''^  which  1  must  engage  sinners  to  espouse  y 
why  should  I  serve  her  as  the  soldiers  did  the  thieves  on  the  cross  ? 
Why,  at  least,  should  I  break  one  of  her  legs.  If  ever  I  bring  her 
into  the  pulpit,  she  shall  come  up  on  both  *'  her  /egs."  The  chariot 
of  my  Diana,  shall  be  drawn  by  the  biting  serpent,  as  well  as  by  the 
silly  dove ;  I  will  preach  Calvinian  reprobation,  as  well  as  Calvinian 
election.     I  will  be  a  man  of  "  conscience  and  honour." 

And  now,  reader,  may  I  not  address  thy  covHscience  and  reason,  and 
ask  ;  if  all  the  fallen  angels  had  laid  their  heads  together  a  thousand 
years,  to  contrive  an  artful  way  of  reproaching  the  living  God— the. 
Holy  One  of  Israel,  could  they  have  done  it  more  effectuwlly  than  by 
getting  myriads  of  Protestants  [even  all  the  Calvinists]  and  myriads 
of  Papists  [even  all  the  Dominicans,  Jansenists,  kc]  to  pass  the  false 
coin  of  Absolute  Election  and  Absolute  Reprobation,  with  this  deceitful 
alluring  inscription — Necessary  holiness  unto  the  Lord,  and  this  detest- 
able Manichean  motto  on  the  reverse,  Necessary  wickedness  unto  the 
Lord?  And  has  not  Mr.  Toplady  presumed  too  much  upon  thy  cre- 
dulity, in  supposing  that  thou  wouldst  never  have  wisdom  enough  to 
?ook  at  the  black  reverse  of  the  shining  medal  by  which  he  wants 
to  bribe  thee  into  Calvinism  ? 

SECTION  III. 

An  Answer  to  bome  appeals  to  Scripture  and  Reason^,  by  which  Mr, 
Toplady  attempts  to  support  the  Absoluteness  and  Holiness  of  the 
Calvinian  Decrees. 

Let  us  see  if  Mr.  Toplady  is  happier  in  the  choice  of  his  Scrip- 
tural and  rational  illustrations,  than  in  that  of  his  arguments.  T© 
show  that  God's  decrees  respecting  man's  life  and  salvation  are  abso- 
lute, or,  [which  is  all  one]  to  show  that  the  decree  of  the  end  neces- 
sarily includes  the  decree  of  the  means,  he  appeals  to  the  case  of 
Hezekiah  thus  : 

Arg.  XIII.  [page  20.]  "God  resolved  that  Hezekiah  should  live 
fifteen  years  longer  than  Hezekiah  expected,  &c.     It  was  as  much 


VINDICATION   or    THE    DECREES.  33 

comprised  in  God's  decree,  that  He zekiM  should  eat,  drink,  and  sleep, 
during  those  fifteen  years  j  and  that  he  should  not  jump  into  the  sea, 
&c.  as  that  fifteen  years  should  be  added  to  his  life." — From  this 
quotation  it  ise  vident,  that  Mr.  Toplady  would  have  us  believe,  that 
no/ie  of  God's  decrees  are  conditional:  that  when  God  decrees  the 
end,  he  doe.s  it  always  in  such  a  manner  as  to  ensure  the  means  neces- 
sary in  order  to  bring  about  the  end ;  and  that  Hezekiah  is  appealed 
to  as  a  proof  of  this  doctrine.  Unfortunate  appeal !  If  1  had  wanted  to 
prove  just  the  contrary,  I  do  not  know  where  I  should  have  found  an 
example  more  demonstrative  <yf  Mr.  Toplady's  mistake  :  witness  the 
following  account.  Hezekiah  was  sick  unto  death  :  and  Isaiah  came  to 
him  and  said,  Thiis  sailh  [thus  decreeth]  the  Lord,  Set  thine  house  ip. 
order,  for  thou  shalt  die,  and  not  live,  Isa.  xxxviii.  1.  Here  is  an 
explicit,  peremptory  decree  : — a  decree  where  no  condition  is  ex- 
pressed : — a  decree  which  wears  a  negative  aspect,  Thou  shalt  not 
live,  and  a  positive  form,  Thou  shalt  die.  The  means  of  executing  the 
decree  was  already  upon  Hezekiah  :  he  was  sick  unto  death.  And 
yet,  so  far  was  he  from  thinking  that  the  decree  of  the  end  absolutely 
included  that  of  the  means,  that  he  set  himself  upon  praying  for 
life  and  health ;  yea,  upon  doing  it  as  a  Jewish  perfectionist.  Then 
Hezekiah  turned  his  face  towards  the  wall,  and  prayed.  Remember  now, 
0  Lord,  I  beseech  thee,  how  1  have  walked  before  thee  with  a  perfect 
heart,  ^c.  and  Hezekiah  wept  sore.  Then  came  the  word  of  the  Lord 
to  Isaiah,  saying.  Go,  and  say  to  Hezekiah,  Thus  saith  [thus  decreeth] 
the  Lord,  I  have  heard  thy  prayer,  I  have  seen  thy  tears:  behold,  I  will 
add  unto  thy  days  fifteen  years,  ver.  2,  5.  From  this  account  it  is 
evident,  that  Hezekiah  might  as  easily  have  reversed  the  decree  about 
his  life,  by  stabbing  or  drowning  himself,  as  he  reversed  the  decree 
about  his  death,  by  weeping  and  praying;  and  that  Mr.  Toplady 
has  forgotten  himself  as  much  in  producing  the  case  of  Hezekiah  in 
support  of  Calvinism,  as  if  he  had  appealed  to  our  Lord's  sermon  on 
the  mount  in  defence  of  the  lawless  Gospel  of  the  day. 

A  kind  of  infatuation  attends  the  wisest  men  who  openly  fight  the 
battles  of  error.  In  the  end,  their  swords,  like  that  of  the  champion 
of  the  Philistines,  do  their  cause  more  mischief  than^  service.  Mr. 
Toplady  will  perhaps  afi^ord  us  another  instance  of  it.  After  pro- 
ducing Hezekiah  to  establish  the  absoluteness  of  God's  decrees,  he 
calls  in  the  first  Jewish  hero.  Joshua  is  brought  to  demonstrate  that 
the  decree  o^ihe  end  always  binds  upon  us  an  unavoidable  submission 
to  the  decree  of  the  means;  or  to  speak  more  intelligibly,  that  God's 
decrees  to  bless  or  to  curse,  are  always  absolute,  and  necessitate  us 
to  use  the  means  leading  to  his  blessing  or  his  curse. 


84  ANSWER   TO   MR.    TOPLADY^S 

Arg.  XIV.  [page  23.]  "^rior  to  the  taking  of  Jericho,  it  was 
revealed  to  Joshua,  that  he  should  certainly  be  master  of  the  place. 
Nay,  so  peremptory  was  the  decree,  and  so  express  the  revelation  of 
it,  that  it  was  predicted  as  if  it  had  already  taken  effect :  /  have  given 
into  thy  hand  Jericho,  &c.  This  assurance,  than  which  nothing  could 
be  more  absolute,  did  not  tie  up  Joshua's  hands  from  action,  and 
make  him  sit  down  without  using  the  means,  which  were  no  less 
appointed  than  the  end.  On  the  contrary,  &c. — Here  we  are  given 
to  understand,  that  Joshua  and  the  Israelites  could  never  cross  any  of 
God's  gracious  decrees  by  neglecting  4he  means  of  their  accomplish- 
ment ;  because  they  were  necessitated  to  use  those  means."  Thus  is 
Joshua  pressed  into  the  service  of  Calvinian  necessity,  and  the  abso- 
luteness of  God's  decrees  :  Joshua,  who  of  all  the  men  in  the  world,  is 
most  unlikely  to  support  the  tottering  ark  of  Calvinian  necessity. 
For  when  he  saw  in  the  wilderness  the  carcases  of  several  hundred 
thousand  persons,  to  whom  God  had  promised  the  good  land  of 
Canaan  with  an  oath,  and  who  nevertheless  entered  not  in  because  of 
unbelief,  he  saw  several  hundred  thousand  proofs  that  God's  pro- 
mises are  not  absolute ;  and  that  when  he  deals  with  rewardable  and 
punishable  agents,, the  decree  of  the  end  is  not  unconditional,  and  does 
by  no  means  include  an  irresistible  decree,  which  binds  upon  them 
the  unavoidable  use  of  the  means. 

But  consider  we  the  peculiar  case  of  Joshua  himself.  The  Lord 
spake  unto  Joshua,  saying,  There  shall  not  any  man  be  able  to  stand 
before  thee  all  the  days  of  thy  life : — /  zt^ill  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee. 
Josh.  i.  6.  Now  this  peremptory  decree  of  the  end,  far  from  neces- 
sarily including  the  means,  actually  failed  by  a  single  flaw  in  the  use 
of  the  means.  The  disobedience  oi  Achan  reversed  the  decree  :  for 
he  disregarded  the  means  or  condition  which  God  had  appointed  : 
Turn  not  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  that  thou  mayest  prosper 
withersoever  thou  goest,  Josh  i.  7.  Hence  it  is,  that  when  Achan  had 
turned  to  the  left,  the  decree  failed,  and  we  find  Joshua  prostrate  before 
the  ark  a  "whole  day,  with  his  clothes  rent,  and  dust  upon  his  head : 
lamenting  the  flight  of  Israel  before  Ai,  and  wishing  that  he  had  been 
content,  and  had  dzvelt  on  the  other  side  Jordan,  Nor  do  I  sec  in 
God's  answer  to  him,  the  least  hint  of  Blr.  Toplady's  doctrine.  Why 
liest  thou  upon  thy  face  ?  Israel  hath  sinned,  and  they  have  also  trans- 
gressed my  covenant :  for  they  have  even  taken  of  the  accursed  thing. — - 
Therefore  the  children  of  Israel  could  not  stand  before  their  enemies, 
because  they  were  accursed :  neither  zvill  I  be  with  you  any  more,  except 
ye  destroy  the  accursed  thing,  Josh.  vii.  1,  13. 


VINDICATION    OP   THE    DECREES.  85 

Hence  it  appears,  that  when  Mr.  Toplady  appeals  to  Joshua  in 
defence  o(  the  absoluteness  of  God's  decrees,  he  displays  his  skill  in 
the  art  of  logic,  as  much  as  if  he  appealed  to  the  prcrempioriness  of 
the  famous  decree,  Yet  forty  days,  and  [ungodly]  Nineveh  shall  be 
destroyed :  and  yet  penitent  Nineveh  was  spared  :  so  unscriptural  is 
the  assertion,  that  the  decree  of  the  end  ensures  the  use  of  the  means^ 
when  God  tries  moral  agents  in  the  day  of  salvation,  in  order  to  punish 
or  reward  them  according  to  their  works  in  the  day  of  judgment! 

Mr.  Toplady  supports  these  unfortunate  appeals  to  Scripture,  by 
the  following  appeal  to  Reason. 

Arg.  XV.  [page  24.]  "  Suppose  it  were  infallibly  revealed  to  ab 
army,  or  to  any  single  individual,  that  the  former  should  certainly 
gain  such  a  battle,  and  the  latter  certainly  win  such  a  race,  would  not 
the  army  be  mad  to  say.  Then  we  will  not  fight  a  stroke  ?  would  not 
the  racer  be  insane  to  add,  Nor  will  I  move  so  much  as  one  of  mj- 
feet,  &c.  Equally  illogical  is  Mr.  Wesley's  impudent  slander,  that 
The  elect  shall  be  saved  do  what  they  will,  k.c. — Either  he  is  absolutely- 
unacquainted  with  the  first  principles  of  reasoning ;  or  he  ofiers  up 
the  knowledge  he  has,  as  a  whole  burnt-sacrifice  on  the  altar  of 
malice,  calumny,  and  falsehood." 

This  severe  censure  will  appear  Calvinistically  gratuitous  if  we 
consider,  that  it  is  entirely  founded  upon  the  impropriety  of  the  illus- 
trations produced  by  Mr.  Toplady.  l{  he  had  exactly  represented 
the  case,  he  would  have  said,  *'  Suppose  it  were  infallibly  revealed 
to  an  army,  that  they  should  certainly  gain  such  a  battle  ;  that  they 
could  do  nothing  towards  the  victory  by  their  own  fighting ;  that  the 
HH  battle  was  fought  and  absolutely  won  for  them  1700  years  ago:  that 
*'if  they  refused  to  fight  to-day,  or  if  they  ran  away,  or  were  taken 
prisoners,  their  triumph  would  not  be  less  certain  ;  and  that  putting 
their  bottle  to  their  neighbours'  mouths,  and  defiling  their  wives, 
instead  of  fighting,  would  only  make  them  sing  victory  louder,  on  a 
certain  da}',  called  a  day  of  power,  when  Omnipotence  would  sove- 
reignly exert  itself  in  their  behalf,  and  put  all  their  enemies  to  flight  ; 
— suppose  again,  it  were  revealed  to  a  racer,  that  he  should  certainly 
win  such  a  race,  and  receive  the  prize,  whether  he  ran  to-day  back- 
ward or  forward  :  because  his  winning  the  race  did  not  at  all  depend 
upon  his  own  swift  running,  but  upon  the  swiftness  of  a  great  racer^ 
who  yesterday  ran  the  race  for  him,  and  who  absolutely  imputes  to 
bim  his  swift  running,  even  while  he  gets  out  of  the  course  to  chase 
an  ewe-lamb,  or  visit  a  Delilah  ; — that  the  covenant  which  secures 
him  the  prize,  is  unconditionally  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure ;  that 
though  he  may  be  unwilling  to  run  now,  yet  in  a  day  of  irresistible 


i3G  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY's 

power  he  shall  be  made  willing  to  fly  and  receive  the  prize  ;  aud  that 
his  former  loitering  will  only  set  off  the  greatness  of  the  power, 
which  is  absolutely  engaged  to  carry  him  and  all  elect  racers,  quite 
from  Egypt  to  Canaan  in  one  hour,  if  they  have  loitered  till  the 
eleventh  hour  ;" — suppose,  I  say,  Mr.  Toplady  had  given  us  such  a 
just  view  of  the  case,  who  could  charge  the  soldiers  with  '*  madness ^''^ 
and  the  racer  with  "  being  insane,'^''  if  they  agreed  to  say,  "  We  will 
neither  fight  nor  run,  but  lake  our  ease  and  indulge  ourselves,  iill 
the  day  of  power  come,  in  which  we  shall  irresistibly  be  made  to 
gain  the  battle,  and  to  win  the  race  ?" 

From  these  rectified  illustrations  it  appears,  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
1.  That,  when  Mr.  Wesley  advanced  his  consequence,  he  neither 
*'  showed  himself  absolutely  unacquainted  zmth  the  first  principles  oj 
reasoning ;"  nor  "  offered  up  the  knowledge  he  has^  as  a  whole  burnt- 
sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  malice,  calumny ,  and  falsehood  ;" — and  2.  That 
when  Mr.  Toplady 's  appeals  to  Scripture  and  Reason  are  made  fairly 
to  stand  upon  their  legs^  they  do  his  doctrine  as  little  service  as  his 
limping  arguments. 

SECTION  IV. 

An  answer  to  the  arguments,  by  which  Mr.  Toplady  endeavours  to  recon- 
cile Calvinian  Reprobation  with  Divine  Justice. 

We  have  seen  how  unhappily  the  translator  of  Zanchius  has  recon- 
ciled his  doctrines  of  grace  and  absolute  election  with  God's  holiness: 
let  us  now  see  if  he  has  been  more  successful  in  reconciling  his  doc- ' 
trines  of  wrath  and  absolute  reprobation  with  Divine  justice, 

Arg.  XVI.  [page  35.]  *'  Justice  consists  in  rendering  to  every  man 
his  due.^^ — Mr.  Toplady  gives  us  this  narrow  definition  oi  justice  to 
make  way  for  this  argument :  God  owes  us  no  blessing,  and  therefore 
he  may  gratuitously  give  us  an  everlasting  curse.  He  does  not  owe 
us  heaven,  and  therefore  he  may  justly  appoint  that  eternal  sin  and 
damnation  shall  be  our  unavoidable  portion.— But,  is  not  a  king  unjust 
when  he  punishes  an  unavoidable  fault  with  uninterrupted  torture,  as 
well  as  when  he  refuses  to  pay  his  just  debts  ? 

Arg.  XVII.  [Ibid.]  "  God  is  not  a  debtor  to  any  man." — True, 
[strictly  speaking:]  but,  1.  Does  not  God  ota;e  io /itms«//' to  behave 
like  himself,  that  is,  like  a  gracious  and  just  Creator,  towards  every 
man?~2.  When  God,  by  his  promise,  has  engaged  himself  judicially 
to  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  works,  is  it  just  in  him  to  ne- 
ressiiate  some  men  to  work  righteousness,  and  others  to  work  iniquity, 


VINDICATION  OP  THE  DECREES.  ii7 

that  he  may  reward  the  former,  and  punish  the  latter,  according  te 
arbitrary  decrees  of  absolute  election  to  life,  and  of  absolute  repro- 
bation to  death  ? — And,  3.  Do  not  the  Sacred  Writers  observe  that 
God  has  condescended  to  make  himself  a  debtor  to  his  creatures  by  his 
gracious  promises  ?  Did  Mr.  Toplady  never  read,  He  that  hath  pity 
upon  the  poor  lendelh  to  the  Lord^  and  look,  nvhat  he  layeth  out  it  shall 
be  paid  again  ?  Prov.  xix.  17.  When  evangelical  Paul  hath  fought  a 
good  fight,  does  he  not  look  for  a  crown  from  the  ^wsi  Jwc/ge,  and 
declare  that  God  is  not  unrighteous  to  forget  our  labour  of  love  ?  and, 
If  we  confess  our  sms,  is  not  God  bound  by  his  justice,  as  well  as  by 
his  faithfulness ,  to  forgive  and  cleanse  us? — 1  John  i.  9. 

Arg.  XVHl.  [Ibid.'\  "  If  it  can  be  proved  that  He  [God]  oaes  salva- 
tion to  every  rational  being  he  has  made  ;  theUy  and  then  only  will  it 
follow,  that  God  is  unjust  in  not  paying  this  debt  of  salvation  to  each, 
&c. — What  shadow  of  injustice  can  be  fastened  on  his  conduct,  for 
in  some  cases  withholding  what  he  does  not  owe  ?" — This  argument 
is  introduced  by  Mr.  Toplady  in  a  variety  of  dresses.  The  flaw  of  it 
consists  in  supposing  that  there  can  be  no  medium  between  eternal 
salvation,  and  appointing  to  eternal  damnation  ;  and  that,  because  God 
may  absolutely  elect  as  many  of  his  creatures  as  he  pleases  to  a  crown 
of  glory,  he  may  absolutely  reprobate  as  many  as  Calvinism  pleases  to 
eternal  sin  and  everlasting  burnings.  The  absurdity  of  this  conclu- 
sion will  be  discovered  by  the  reader,  if  he  look  at  it  through  the 
glass  of  the  following  illustrations.  Mr.  Toplady  is  not  obliged,  bv 
any  rule  of  justice,  to  give  Mr.  Wesley  a  hundred  pounds,  because 
he  owes  him  no  money  ;  and  therefore  Mr.  T.  may  give  Mr.  Wesley 
a  hundred  gratuitous  stripes,  without  breaking  any  rule  of  justice. 
The  king  may  without  injustice  gratuitously  give  a  thousand 
pounds  to  one  man,  ten  thousand  to  another,  a  hundred  to  a  third, 
and  nothing  to  a  fourth  ;  and  therefore  the  king  may  also,  with- 
out injustice,  gratuitously  give  a  hundred  stabs  to  one  man,  a 
thousand  to  another,  and  ten  thousand  to  a  third  ;  or,  he  may  neces- 
sitate them  to  oflfend,  that  he  may  hang  and  burn  them  with  a  show  of 
justice. 

Arg.  xix.  [page  36.]  "  I  defy  any  a  man  to  show  in  what  single 
respect  the  actual  limitation  of  happiness  itself  is  a  jot  more  just  and 
equitable  (in  a  Being  possessed  of  infinite  power)  than  the  decretive 
limitation  of  the  persons  who  shall  enjoy  that  happiness."— The 
question  is  not  whether  God  can  justly  limitate  the  happiness  of  man, 
or  the  nwm6erof  the  men,  whom  he  will  raise  to  such  and  such  heights 
<>f  happiness.     This  we  never  disputed  :  on  the  contrary,  we  assert 


with  our  Lord,  that  when  God  gives  degrees  of  happiness,  as  a  Bene 
factory  he  may  do  what  he  pleases  with  his  own  ;  he  may  givej^'yc  talents 
to  one  man,  or  to  Jive  thousand  men  ;  and  two  talents  to  two  men,  or  to 
two  millions  of  men. — Wherein  then  does  the  fallacy  of  Mr.  Toplady'& 
argument  consist  ?  In  this  most  irrational  and  unjust  conclusion :  God 
may,  without  injustice,  limit  the  happiness  of  his  human  creatures,  and 
the  number  of  those,  who  shall  enjoy  such  and  such  a  degree  of  hap- 
piness ;  and  therefore,  he  may  also,  without  injustice,  absolutely  repro- 
bate as  many  of  his  unborn  creatures  as  he  pleases,  and  decree  to 
protract  their  infernal  torments  to  all  eternity,  after  having  first 
decreed  their  necessary  fall  into  sin,  and  their  necessary  continuance 
in  sin,  as  necessary  means,  in  order  to  their  necessary  end,  which  is 
eternal  damnation.  Is  not  this  an  admirable  Vindication  of  Calvin's 
Decrees  ?  Who  does  not  see  that  the  conclusion  has  no  more  to  do 
with  the  premiss,  than  in  the  following  argument :  The  Lord  Chan- 
cellor may  without  injustice  present  Mr.  T.  to  a  living  of  fifty  pounds^ 
or  to  one  of  two  hundred  pounds,  or  he  may  reprobate  Mr.  T.  from 
all  the  crown  livings  ;  and  therefore  the  Lord  Chancellor  may,  with- 
out injustice,  sue  Mr.  T.  for  fifty  pounds,  or  two  hundred  pounds, 
whenever  he  pleases.  What  name  shall  we  give  to  the  Logic  which 
deals  in  such  arguments  as  these? 

Arg.  XX.  [page  37.]  "  He  [man]  derives  his  existence  from  God, 
and  therefore  [says  Arminianism]  "  God  is  bound  to  make  his  exist- 
ence happy.^^  I  would  rather  say,  God  is  bound,  both  by  the  rectitude 
of  his  nature  and  by  the  promises  of  his  Gospel,  not  to  reprobate 
any  man  to  remediless  sin  and  eternal  misery,  till  he  has  actually 
deserved  such  a  dreadful  reprobation,  at  least,  by  one  thought,  which 
he  was  not  absolutely  predestinated  to  think.  But  Calvinism  says, 
that  God  absolutely  reprobated  a  majority  of  men  before  they  thought 
their  first  thought,  or  drew  their  first  breath.  If  Mr.  Toplady  had 
stated  the  case  in  this  plain  manner,  all  his  readers  would  have  seen 
his  doctrine  of  wrath  without  a  veil,  and  would  have  shuddered  at 
the  sight. 

Arg.  XXI.  [Ibid.]  "  If  God  owe  salvation  to  all  his  creatures  as  such, 
even  the  workers  of  iniquity  will  be  saved,  or  God  must  cease  to  be 
just" — I  never  heard  any  Arminian  say  that  God  owes  salvation,  i,  e. 
heavenly  glory,  to  all  his  creatures  as  such :  for  then  all  horses,  being 
God's  creatures  as  well  as  men,  would  be  taken  to  heaven  :  but 
we  maintain,  that  God  will  never  mediately  entail  necessary,  reme- 
diless sin  upon  any  of  his  creatures,  that  he  may  infallibly  punish 
them  with  eternal  damnation.     And  we  assert,  if  God  had  not  gra- 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  DECREES,  89 

ciously  designed  to  replace  all  mankind  in  «i  state  of  initial  salvation 
from  sin  and  hell,  according  to  the  various  dispensations  of  his  re- 
deeming grace,  be  would  have  punished  Adam's  personal  sin  by  a 
personal  damnation.  Nor  would  he  have  suftered  him  to  propagate 
his  fallen  race,  ubless  the  second  Adam  had  extended  the  blessing  of 
redemption  so  far  as  to  save  from  eternal  misery  all  who  die  in  their 
infancy,  and  to  put  all  who  live  long  enough  to  act  as  moral  agents,  in 
a  capacity  of  avoiding  hell  by  working  out  their  oa?n  eternal  salvation 
in  the  day  of  their  temporary  salvation  : — a  day  this,  which  inconsis- 
tent Calvinists  call  "  the  Jay  of  graced 

Mr.  Toplady,  after  decrying  our  doctrine  of  gr«ce,  as  leading  to 
gross  iniquity,  indirectly  owns,  that  the  conditionality  of  the  promise 
of  eternal  salvation  guards  our  Gospel  against  the  charge  of  Antino- 
raianism, — a  dreadful  charge  this,  which  tails  so  heavily  on  Calvinism. 
Conscious  that  he  cannot  defend  his  lawless,  unconditional  election  to 
eternal  life,  and  his  -wrathful^  vnconditional  reprobation  to  eternal 
deiith,  without  taking  the  co7ic/monaf%  of  eternal  salvation  out  of  the 
way,  be  attempts  to  do  it  by  the  following  dilemma. 

Arg.  XXI I.  [page  38.]  "  Is  salvation  due  to  a  man  that  does  not  per- 
form those  conditions?  If  you  say,  yes;  you  jump,  hand  over  head, 
into  what  you  yourself  call  Antinomianisjn. — If  you  say,  that  salvation 
is  not  due  to  a  man  unless  he  do  fulfil  the  conditions ;  it  will  follow, 
that  man's  own  performances  are  meritorious  of  salvation,  and  bring 
God  himself  into  debt." 

We  answer,  1.  To  show  the  tares  of  Calvinism,  Mr.  Toplady 
raises  an  artificial  night  by  confounding  the  sparing  salvation  of  the 
Father — the  atoning  salvation  of  the  Son — the  convincing,  converting, 
and  perfecting  salvation  of  the  Spirit.  Yea,  he  confounds  actual  sal- 
vation from  a  thousand  temporal  evils — temporary  salvation  from  death 
and  hell — initial  salvation  from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin — present 
salvation  into  the  blessings  of  Christianity,  Judaism,  or  Gentilism— con- 
tinued  salvation  into  these  blessings — eternal  salvation  from  death  and 
hell — and  eternal  salvation  into  glory  and  heaven  : — he  confounds,  I 
say,  all  these  degrees  of  salvation  ;  which  is  as  absurd  as  if  he  con- 
founded all  degrees  of  life— the  life  of  an  embryo — of  a  sucking 
child — of  a  school-boy — of  a  youth — of  a  man — o  fa  departed  saint 
—and  of  an  angel.  When  he  has  thus  shuflBed  his  cards,  and  played 
the  dangerous  game  of  confusion,  what  wonder  is  it  if  he  wins  it,  and 
njakes  his  inattentive  readers  believe,  that  what  can  be  affirmed  with 
truth  of  salvation  into  heavenly  glory,  must  be  true  also,  when  it  is 
affirmed  of  salvation,  from  everlasting  burnings ;  and  that  because  God 
does  not  owe  heaven  and  angelical  honours  to  unborn  children,  he  raajf 

Vol.  IV.  12 


90  ANSWER   TO  MR.   TOPLADY's 

justly  reprobate  them  to  hell  and  to  Saianicaly  remediless  wickedness y  as 
the  way  to  rt. 

2.  Distinguishing  what  Mr.  Toplady  confounds,  we  do  not  scruple 
to  maintain,  that,  though  God  is  not  bound  to  give  existence,  much  less 
heavenly  glory,  to  any  creature ;  yet,  all  his  creatures,  who  never 
personally  offended  him,  have  a  right  to  expect  at  his  hands  salvation 
from  everlasting  fire,  till  they  have  deserved  his  eternal  and  absolute 

reprobation  by  committing  some  personal,  and  avoidable  offence. 
Hence  it  is,  that  all  mankind  are  born  in  a  state  of  inferior  salvation  : 
for  they  are  all  born  out  of  eternal  fire  ;  and  to  be  out  of  hell  is  a 
considerable  degree  of  salvation,  unless  we  are  suffered  to  live 
unavoidably  to  deserve  everlasting  burnings,  which  is  the  case  of  all 
Calvin's  imaginary  reprobates. 

3.  Mr.  Toplady  "  throws  out  a  barrel  for  the  amusement  of  the 
whale,  to  keep  him  in  play,  and  make  him  lose  sight  of  the  ship" — 
the  fire  ship.  For,  in  order  to  make  us  lose  sight  of  absolute  repro- 
bation, remediless  wickedness,  and  everlasting  fire,  which  [if  Calvinism 
be  true]  is  the  unavoidable  lot  of  the  greatest  part  of  mankind  even 
in  their  mother's  womb ;  he  throws  out  this  ambiguous  expression, 
salvation  due ;  just  as  if  there  were  no  medium  between  salvation  due^ 
and  Calvinian  reprobation,  due !  whereas  it  is  evident,  that  there  is  the 
medium  of  non-creation,  or  that  of  destruction  in  a  state  of  seminal 
exislence  ! 

4.  The  flaw  of  Mr.  Toplady's  argument  will  appear  in  its  proper 
magnitude,  if  we  look  at  it  through  the  following  illustration.  A  whole 
regiment  is  led  to  the  left  by  the  colonel,  whom  the  general  wanted 
to  turn  to  the  right.  The  colonel,  who  is  personally  in  the  fault,  is 
pardoned  ;  and  five  hundred  of  the  soldiers,  who,  by  the  overbearing 
influence  of  their  colonel's  disobedience,  were  necessitated  to  move 
to  the  left,  are  appointed  to  be  hanged  for  not  going  to  the  right.  The 
general  sends  to  Geneva  for  a  Tertullus,  who  vindicates  the  justice  of 
the  execution  by  the  following  speech.  "  Preferment  is  not  due  to 
obedient  soldiers,  much  less  to  soldier*  who  have  necessarily  disobeyed 
orders  ;  and  therefore  your  gracious  general  acts  consistently  with 
justice,  in  appointing  these  five  hundred  soldiers  to  be  hanged,  for,  as 
there  is  no  medium  between  not  promoting  soldiers  and  hanging 
them,  he  might  justly  have  hanged  the  whole  regiment.  He  is  not 
bound  by  any  law,  to  give  any  soldier  a  captain's  commission  ;  and 
therefore  he  is  perfectly  just,  when  he  sends  these  military  repro- 
bates to  the  gallows."  Some  of  the  auditors  clap  Tertullus' s  argu- 
ment :  P.  O.  cries  out  that  it  is  "  most  masterly  ;"  but  a  few  of  ihe 
soldiers  are  not  quite  convinced,  and  begin  to  question  whether  the 


VINDICATION    OP    THE    DECREES.  91 

holy  service  of  the  mild  Saviour  of  the  world,  is  not  preferable  to  the 
Antinoraian  service  of  the  absolute  Reprobater  of  countless  myriads 
of  unborn  infants.  • 

5.  The  other  flaw  of  Mr.  Toplady's  dilemma  consists  in  supposing 
that  Gospel  worthiness  is  incompatible  with  the  Gospel :  whereas  all 
the  doctrines  of  justice,  which  make  one  half  of  the  Gospel,  stand  or 
fall  with  the  doctrines  of  evangelical  worthiness.  We  will  shout  it  on 
the  walls  of  mystic  Geneva :  they  that  follow  Christ,  shall  walk  with 
him  in  white,  rather  than  they  that  follow  antichrist ;  for  they  are 
[rnore]  worthy. — Watch  and  pray  always,  that  you  may  be  counted 
worthy  to  escape,  and  to  stand  rewardable  before  the  Son  of  man. — 
Whatever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  4'C.  knowing  that  of  the 
Lord  ye  shall  receive  the  reward  of  the  inheritance.  For  he  will  say, 
in  the  great  day  of  retribution,  Come,  ye  blessed,  inherit  the  kingdom,  ^c, 
for  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  meat,  4'C. — Go^  ye  cursed,  into  ever- 
lasting fire,  4'c.  for  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  no  meat,  4'C. — The 
doctrine  of  Pharisaic  merit  we  abhor  ;  but  the  doctrine  of  rewardable 
obedience  we  honour,  defend,  and  extol.  Believers,  let  not  Mr.  Top- 
lady  beguile  you  of  your  reward  through  voluntary  humility. — If  ye  live 
after  the  flesh  ye  shall  die :  but  if  ye,  through  the  Spirit,  mortify  the 
deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live. — Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he 
also  reap. — For  we  shall  all  appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ, 
that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  the  body  according  to  that 
he  has  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad.  Look  to  yourselves,  that  ye  lose 
not  the  things  which  ye  have  wrought. — So  fight,  that  you  may  not  be 
reprobated  by  remunerative  justice.— So  run,  that  youmay  [judicially] 
obtain  an  incorruptible  crown. — Remember  Lofs  wife. — By  patient  con- 
tinuance in  well-doing  seek  for  glory;  and  God,  according  to  his  gra- 
cious promises,  will  render  you  eternal  life  r  for  he  is  not  untrue,  to 
break  his  evangelical  promise,  nor  unrighteous,  to  forget  your  work 
that  proceedeth  from  love.  Your  persevering  obedience  shall  be  gra- 
ciously rewarded  by  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  Judge,  shall  give  you  at  that  day ;  and  then  great  shall  be 
your  reward  in  heaven.  For  Christ  himself  hath  said,  Be  faithful  unto 
death,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  crown  of  life. — My  sheep  follow  me,  and  I 
give  unto  them  eternal  life  in  glory.  For  I  am  the  aiithor  of  eternal 
salvation  to  them  that  obey  me.  What  can  be  plainer  than  this  Gospel  ? 
Shall  the  absurd  cries  of  Popery!  Merit\  &c.  make  us  ashamed  of 
Christ's  disciples;  of  Christ's  words;  and  of  Christ  himself?  God 
forbid  !  Let  the  Scriptures — let  God  be  true,  though  Mr.  Toplady 
should  be  mistaken. 


92  ANSWER   TO   mi.    TOPLADV'S 

Arg.  XXHI.  [page  38.]  "  If  he  [God]  be  not  obliged,  in  justice, 
to  save  mankind,  then  neither  is  he  unjust  in  passing  by  some  men  : 
nay,  he  might,  had  he  so  pleased,  Ue^ve  passed  by  the  whole  of  man- 
kind, without  electing  any  one  individual  of  the  fallen  race  ;  and  yet 
have  continued  holy,  just,  and  good." 

True  :  he  might  have  passed  them  by  without  fixing  any  blot  upon 
his  justice  and  goodness,  if  by  passing  them  by  Mr.  T.  means  leaving 
them  in  the  wretched  state  of  seminal  existence,  in  which  state  his 
vindictive  justice  found  them  after  Adam's  fall.  For  then,  an  unknown 
punishment,  seminally  endured,  would  have  borne  just  proportion  to  an 
unknorvn  sin,  seminally  committed.  But  if,  by  passing  some  men  by,  this 
gentleman  means,  as  Calvinism  does,  "  absolutely  predestinating  some 
men  to  necessary,  remediless  sin,  and  to  unavoidable,  eternal  damna- 
tion ;"  we  deny  that  God  might  jttstly  have  passed  by  the  whole  of  man" 
kind :  we  deny  that  he  might  justly  have  passed  by  one  single  man, 
woman,  or  child.— Nay,  we  affirm,  that  if  we  conceive  Satan,  or  the 
evil  principle  of  Manes,  as  exerting  creative  power,  we  could  not 
conceive  him  worse  employed  than  in  forming  an  absolute  reprobate 
in  embryo ;  that  is,  "  a  creature  unconditionally,  and  absolutely 
doomed  to  remediless  wickedness  and  everlasting  fire." 

As  the  simple  are  frequently  imposed  upon  by  an  artful  substituting 
of  the  harmless  word  passing  by,  for  the  terrible  word  absolutely 
reprobating  to  death,  I  beg  leave  to  show,  by  a  simile,  the  vast  differ- 
ence there  is  between  these  two  phnses.  A  king  may  without 
injustice  pass  by  all  the  beggars  in  the  streets,  without  giving  them  any 
bounty ;  because,  if  he  does  them  no  good  in  thus  passing  them  by, 
he  does  them  no  barm.  But  suppose  he  called  two  captdins  of  his 
guards,  and  said  to  the  first.  If  you  see  me  pass  by  little  dirty  beg- 
gars, without  giving  them  an  alms,  throw  them  into  the  mire,  or  if 
their  parents  have  cast  them  into  the  dirt,  keep  them  there  :  then 
let  the  second  captain  follow  with  his  men,  and  take  all  the  dirty  beg- 
gars who  have  thus  been  passed  by,  and  throw  them,  for  being  dirty, 
into  a  furnace  hotter  than  that  of  Nebuchadnezzar  ; — suppose,  I  say, 
the  king  passed  his  little  indigent  subjects  by  in  this  manner,  would 
not  his  decree  of  preterition  be  a  more  than  diabolical  piece  of 
cruelty  ?  I  need  not  inform  my  judicious  readers,  that  the  passing  by 
of  the  king  represents  Calvinian  passing  by,  that  is,  absolute  reproba- 
tion to  death: — ih'dt  the^^rst  captain,  who  throws  little  beggars  into 
the  dirt,  or  keeps  them  tl^re,  represents  the  decree  of  the  means, 
which  necessitates  the  reprflj|>ate  to  sin,  or  to  continue  in  sin  ; — and  that 
the  second  captain  represents  the  decree  of  the  end,  which  necessitatis 
them  to  go  to  everlasting  burnings. 


VINDICATION'    OF   THE    DECREES.  V3 

Arg.  XXIV.  [page  39.]  Mr.  Toplady  endeavouri  to  reconcile 
Ciilvinian  reprobation  with  divine  justice  by  an  appeal  " /o  God's 
providential  dealings  with  men  in  the  present  Z'/c"  His  verbose  argu- 
ment, stript  of  its  Geneva  dress,  and  brought  naked  to  open  light, 
may  run  thus  :  *'  If  God  may,  without  injustice,  absolutely  place  the 
sons  of  Adam  in  circumstances  of  temporary  misery,  he  may  also, 
without  injustice,  reprobate  them  to  eternal  torments  :  but  be  may 
justly  place  the  sons  of  Adam  in  circumstances  of  temporary  misery  ; 
witness  his  actually  doing  it  :  and  therefore  he  may  without  injustice 
reprobate  them  to  eternal  torments  and  to  remediless  sin,  as  the  way 
to  those  torments." — The  flaw  of  this  argument  is  in  the  first  pro^ 
position,  and  consists  in  supposing,  that  because  God  can  justly 
appoint  us  to  suflfer  a  light  affliction,  which  [comparatively  speaking] 
IS  but  for  a  moment,  and  "a^hich  [if  we  are  not  perversely  wanting  to 
ourselves]  reill  work  for  'us  afar  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of 
glory,  2.  Cor.  iv.  17.  he  can  also  justly  appoint  us  to  remediless 
wickedness  and  eternal  damnation.  This  conclusion  is  all  of  a  piece 
with  the  following  argument.  A  father  may  ju«tly  punish  his  dis- 
obedient child  with  a  rod,  and  give  his  sick  child  a  bitter  medicine  ; 
and  therefore  he  may  justly  break  all  his  bones  with  a  forge-hammer, 
and  daily  drench  him  with  melted  lead.  To  produce  such  absurd 
consequences  without  a  mask,  is  sufficiently  to  answer  them.  See 
farther  what  is  said  upon  Arg.  xxviii. 

Arg.  XXV.  [page  40.]  Mr.  Toplady  is,  if  possible,  still  more 
-abundantly  mistaken,  while,  to  prove  the  justice  of  Calvinian  repro- 
bation, he  appeals  to  "  the  real  inequality  of  providential  distributions 
ie/oz4»." — We  cannot  "  pronounce  the  great  Father  of  all  unjust^ 
because  he  does  not  make  all  his  offspring  equally  rich,  good,  and 
happy :"  and  therefore,  God  may  justly  reprobate  some  of  them  to 
eternal  misery ;  just  as  if  inferior  degrees  of  goodness  and  happi- 
ness were  the  same  thing  as  remediless  wickedness,  and  eternal  misery  I 

Arg.  XXVI.  [Ibid,']  "  The  devils  may  be  cast  down  to  hell  to  be 
everlastingly  damned,  and  be  appointed  thereto  ;  and  it  gives  no  great 
concern.  No  hard  thoughts  against  God  arise  :  no  charge  of  crueltj', 
injustice,"  &c.  Indeed,  if  Dr.  Gill,  whom  Mr.  Toplady  quotes, 
insinuated,  that  God  had  absolutely  predestinated  myriads  of  angels  to 
everlasting  damnation,  through  the  appointed  mentis  of  necessary  sin  ; 
and  that  God  had  made  this  appointment  thousands  of  years  before 
most  of  those  angels  had  any  personal  existence,  it  would  give  us 
great  concern,  both  for  the  honour  of  God's  justice,  and  for  the  angels 
so  cruelly  treated  by  free  wrath.     But  as  matters  are,  the  case  of 


94  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY's 

devils  gives  us  no  great  concern,  because  they  fell  knowingly,  wilfullyt 
and  without  necessity.  To  the  end  of  the  day  of  their  visitation  they 
personally  rejected  God's  gracious  counsel  towards  them  :  and,  as 
they  obstinately  refused  to  subserve  the  judicial  display  of  his  remu- 
nerative bounty,  it  is  highly  agreeable  to  reason  and  equity,  that  they 
should  subserve  the  judicial  display  of  his  vindictive  justice. 

Arg.  XXVII.  [page  41.]  "  The  king  of  Great  Britain  has  unlimited 
right  of  peerage,  &c.  Will  any  body  be  so  weak  and  perverse  as  to 
charge  him  with  tyranny  and  injustice,  only  because  it  is  not  his  will, 
though  it  is  in  his  power,  to  make  all  his  subjects  noblemen  ?" — This 
is  another  barrel  thrown  out  to  the  whale.  This  illustration  does  not 
touch,  but  conceal  the  question.  For  the  similar  question  is  not 
whether  the  king  is  unjust  in  leaving  gentlemen  and  tradesmen  among 
the  gentry  and  commonalty,  but  whether  be  could,  without  injustice 
and  tyranny,  pretend,  that  because  he  has  an  unlimited  right  of  peer- 
age, he  has  also  an  unlimited  right  of  [what  I  beg  leave  to  call] 
felonage, — a  Calvinian  right  this,  of  appointing  whom  he  pleases  to 
rob  and  murder,  that  he  may  appoint  whom  he  pleases  to  a  cell  in 
Newgate,  and  a  swing  at  Tyburn.  This  is  the  true  slate  of  the  case. 
If  Mr.  T.  has  cast  a  vail  over  it,  it  is  a  sign  that  he  is  not  destitute  of 
the  feelings  of  justice,  and  that,  if  he  durst  look  at  his  Manichean 
picture  of  God's  sovereignty  without  a  vail,  he  would  turn  from  it 
with  the  same  precipitancy,  with  which  he  would  start  back  from 
the  abomination  of  the  Moabites,  or  from  the  grim  idol  to  which 
mistaken  Israelites  sacrificed  their  children  in  the  valley  of  Hin- 
nom. 

Arg.  XXVIII.  [page  42.]  "  Misery,  though  endured  but  for  a 
year,  kc.  is  in  its  own  nature,  and  for  the  time  being,  as  truly  misery, 
as  it  would  be  if  protracted  ever  so  long,  &c.  And  God  can  no  more 
cease  to  he  just  for  a  year,  or  for  a  man's  lifetime,  than  he  can  cease 
to  be  just  for  a  century,  or  for  ever.  By  the  same  rule  that  he  can, 
and  does,  without  impeachment  of  his  moral  attributes,  permit  any 
one  being  to  be  miserable  for  a  moment ;  he  may  permit  that  being  to 
be  miserable  for  a  much  longer  time  :  and  so  on,  ad  infinitum  ,•" — that 
is,  in  plain  English, /or  ever.  The  absurdity  of  this  argument  may  be 
sufficiently  pointed  out  by  a  similar  plea.  A  surgeon  may,  without 
injustice,  open  an  impostume  in  my  breast,  and  give  me  pain  for  an 
hour,  and  therefore  he  may  justly  scarify  me,  and  flay  me  alive  ten 
years — A  judge  may,  without  impeachment  of  his  justice,  order  a  man 
to  be  burnt  in  the  hand  for  a  moment,  and  therefore  his  justice  will 
continue  unstained,  if  he  order  red-hot  irons  to  be  applied  to  that 


VINDICATION    OP    THE    DECREES.  95 

man's  hands  and  feet,  back  and  breast,  *'  ad  infinitum^  I  hope  that 
when  Mr.  Toplady  threw  this  scrap  of  Latin  over  the  nakedness  of 
his  Diana,  his  good  nature  suggested  that  she  is  too  horrible  to  be 
looked  at  without  a  vail.  But  could  he  not  have  borrowed  the 
language  of  mother  church,  without  borrowing  a  maxim  which 
might  shock  any  inquisitor,  and  might  have  put  Bonner  himself  to  a 
stand  ? 

Arg.  XXIX.  [page  44.]  "  He  [God]  permits,  and  has  for  near  6000 
years  permitted,  the  reign  of  naiura/ evil.  Upon  the  same  principle, 
might  he  not  extend  its  reign  to — a  never-ending  duration  ?" — He 
tnio^ftf,  if  a  never-ending  line  o{  moral  evil,  personally  and  avoidably 
brought  on  by  free  agents  upon  themselves,  called  for  a  never-ending 
line  of  penal  misery  :  and  our  Lord  himself  says,  that  he  uill :  these 
[the  wicked,  who  have  finally  hardened  themselves]  shall  go  a-way 
into  everlasting  punishment — where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is 
not  quenched.   Matt.  xxv.  46.  Mark  ix.  48. 

Arg.  XXX.  [Ibid.]  "  But  still  the  old  difficulty  [a  difficulty  which 
Armmianism  will  never  solve,]  fcc.  the  old  difficulty  survives  ;  how 
came  moral  evil  to  be  permitted,  vi'hen  it  might  as  easily  have  been 
hindered,  by  a  Being  of  infinite  goodness,  power,  and  wisdom  ?^^ — 
Page  39.  Mr.  T.  speaks  partly  the  same  language  ;  giving  us  to 
understand  as  openly  as  he  dares,  that  God  worketh  all  things  in  all 
men,  even  wickednes-s  in  the  wicked.  His  pernicious,  though  guarded 
insinuation,  runs  thus :  "  you  will  find  it  extremely  difficult,  [may  I 
not  say  impossible?]  to  point  out  the  difference  between  permission 
and  design,  in  a  Being  possessed  [as  God  most  certainly  is]  of  unli- 
mited wisdom  and  unlimited  jaotwer." — Hence  we  are  given  to  under- 
stand, that,  because  God  does  not  absolutely  hinder  the  commission  of 
sin,  *'  it  would  non-plus  all  the  sagacity  of  man,  should  we  attempt 
clearly  to  show  wherein  the  difference  lies,"  between  God's  permit- 
ting sin,  and  his  designing  or  decreeing  sin,  or  [to  speak  with  more 
candour]  between  God's  placing  free  agents  in  a  state  of  probation, 
with  a  strict  charge  not  to  sin,  and  between  his  being  the  author  of 
sin.  Is  not  this  a  ^^  most  masterly''^  "  Vindication  of  the  decrees  and 
providence  of  God ;"  supposing  you  mean  by  god,  the  sin-begetting 
deity  worshipped  by  the  Manichees  ?  This  Antinomian  blow  at  the 
root  of  divine  holiness  is  dangerous  :  I  shall  therefore  ward  it  off  by 
various  answers. 

1.  When  God  placed  man  in  paradise,  hr  {rom  permitting  him  to 
sin,  he  strictly  forbad  him  to  do  it.  Is  it  right  then  in  Mr.  T.  to  call 
God  "  the  Permitter  of  sm,"  when  the  Scriptures  represent  him  as 
the   Forhidder  of  it?    Nay,  is  it  not  very  wrong  to  pour  i^hamc  npoi'. 


96 

the  holiness  of  God,  and  absurdity  upon  the  reason  of  man,  by  making 
a  CalWnistic  world  believe,  thai  forbidding  and  threatening  is  one  and 
the  same  thing  with  permilting  and  giving  leave  ;  or  at  least,  that  the 
difference  is  so  trifling,  that  "  all  the  sagacity  of  man  vdHI  find  il 
extremely  difficulty  not  to  say  impossible^  clearly  to  point  it  out  ? 

2.  I  pretend  to  a  very  little  share  of  all  the  sagacity  of  man;  and 
yet,  without  being  non-plussed  at  all,  I  hope  to  show  by  the  folio iving 
illustration,  that  there  is  a  prodigious  difference  between  not  hinder- 
ing, and  design,  in  the  case  of  the  entering  in  of  sin. 

A  general  wants  to  try  the  faithfulness  of  his  soldiers,  that  he  may 
reward  those  who  "will  light,  and  punish  those  who  will  go  over  to  the 
enemy  ;  in  order  to  display,  before  all  the  army,  his  love  of  bravery, 
his  hatred  of  cowardice,  his  remunerative  goodness,  and  his  impartial 
justice.  To  this  end,  he  issues  out  a  proclamation,  importing  that  all 
the  volunteers,  who  shall  gallantly  keep  the  field  in  such  an  important 
engagement,  shall  be  made  captains ;  and  that  all  those  who  shall  go 
over  to  the  enemy,  shall  be  shot.  I  suppose  him  endued  with  infinite 
wisdom,  knowledge,  and  power.  By  his  omniscience  he  sees  that  some 
•iisill  desert :  by  his  omnipotence  he  could  indeed  hinder  them  from 
doing  it :  for  he  could  chain  them  all  to  so  many  posts  stuck  in  the 
ground  around  their  colours :  but  his  infinite  wisdom  does  not  permit 
him  to  do  it ;  as  it  would  be  a  piece  of  madness  in  him,  to  defeat  by 
forcible  means  his  design  of  trying  the  courage  of  his  soldiers,  in 
order  to  reward  and  punish  them  according  to  their  gallant  or  cowardly 
behaviour  in  the  field.  And  therefore,  though  he  is  persuaded  that 
many  will  be  shot,  he  puts  his  proclamation  in  force  ;  because,  upon 
the  whole,  it  will  best  answer  his  wise  designs.  However,  as  he 
does  not  desire,  much  less  design,  that  any  of  his  soldiers  should  be 
shot  for  desertion,  he  does  what  his  wisdom  permits  him  to  do  to 
prevent  their  going  over  to  the  enemy;  and  yet,  for  the  above-men- 
tioned reason,  he  does  not  absolutely  hinder  them  from  doing  it.  Now, 
in  such  a  case,  who  does  not  see  that  the  difference  between  not  abso- 
lutely hindering  and  designing,  is  as  discernible  as  the  difference 
between  reason  and  folly ; — or  between  wisdom  nud  wickedness  ?  By 
such  dangerous  insinuations  as  that,  which  this  illustration  exposes, 
the  simple  are  imperceptibly  led  to  confound  Christ  and  Belial ;  and 
to  think,  that  there  is  little  difference  between  the  celestial  Parent  of 
good,  and  the  Manichean  Parent  of  good  and  evil ; — the  Ja7ius  of  the 
fatalists,  who  wears  two  faces,  an  angel's  face,  and  a  devil's  face; 
a  mongrel,  imaginary  god  this,  whose  fancied  ways  are,  like  his  fan- 
-cied  nature,  full  of  duplicity. 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  DECREES,  97 

J.  To  the  preceding  illustration  I  beg  leave  to  add  the  following 
argument.  No  unprejudiced  person  will,  I  hope,  refuse  his  assent  to 
the  truth  of  this  proposition.  A  world,  wherein  there  are  rational 
free  agents,  like  angels  and  men  ; — irrational  free  agents,  like  dogs 
and  horses  ; — necessary  agents,  like  plants  and  trees  ;  and  dead  matter, 
like  stones  and  clods  of  earth  : — Such  a  world,  I  say,  is  as  much  su- 
perior in  perfection  to  a  world,  where  there  are  only  necessary  agents 
and  dead  matter,  as  a  place  inhabited  by  learned  men  and  curious 
beasts,  contains  more  wonders  than  one  which  is  only  stocked  with 
Ji7ie  flowers  and  curious  stones.  If  this  be  granted,  it  necessarily 
follows,  that  this  world  was  very  perfect,  calculated  to  display  his 
infinite  power  and  manifold  wisdom. — Now,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  rational  free  agents,  being  capable  of  knowing  their  Creator, 
owe  to  him  gratitude  and  obedience ;  and  to  one  another,  assistance 
and  love  ;  and  therefore  they  are  under  a  law,  which  [as  free  agents^ 
they  may  keep  or  break,  as  they  please. 

*'  But,  could  not  God  necessitate  free  agents  to  keep  the  law  they 
are  under  ?" 

Yes,  says  Calvinism,  for  he  is  endued  with  infinite  power :  but 
Scripture,  good  sense,  and  matter  of  fact,  say  No  :  because,  although 
God  is  endued  with  infinite  power ^  he  is  also  endued  with  infinite  wis- 
dom. And  it  would  be  as  absurd  to  create  free  agents  in  order  to 
necessitate  them,  as  to  do  a  thing  in  order  to  undo  it.  Besides  [I  re- 
peat it]  God's  distributive  justice  could  never  be  displayed,  nor  could 
free  obedience  be  paid  by  rationals,  and  crowned  by  the  Rewarder  and 
Judge  of  all  the  earth,  unless  rationals  were  free-willing  creatures,  and 
therefore,  the  moment  you  absolutely  necessitate  them,  you  destroy 
them  as  free  agents,  and  you  rob  God  of  two  of  his  most  glorious 
titles— that  of  Rewarder,  and  that  of  Judge.  Thus  we  account  for 
the  origin  of  evil  in  a  scriptural  and  rational  manner,  without  the 
help  of  Fatalism,  Manicheism,  or  Calvinism.     Mr.  Toplady  replies  : 

Arg.  XXXI.  [pp.  44,  45.]  '*  Oh,  but — God  himself  is  a  free  agent, 
though  his  will  is  necessarily,  unchangeably,  and  singly  determined  to 
good,  and  to  good  only.  So  are  the  elect  angels.  So  are  the  glo- 
rified souls  of  saints  departed,  &c.  and  so  might  Adam  have  been, 
had  God  pleased  to  have  so  created  him." 

This  is  the  grand  objection  of  President  Edwards,  which  I  have  an- 
swered in  the  Scripture  Scales,  Vol.  HI.  p.  231,  kc.  I  shall,  however, 
make  here  a  few  remarks  upon  it. — 1.  If  ^^  God  worketh  all  things, 
&c.  even  wickedness  in  the  wicked,^''  as  the  consistent  Predestinarians 
directly  or  indirectly  tell  us ;  it  is  absurd  in  them  to  plead,  that  he  is 
singly  determined  to  good,  and  to  good  only :    for  every  body  knows 

Vol.  IV.  l.-^ 


98  ANSWER  TO  MR.  TOPLADY's 

that  the  god  of  Manes  is  full  of  duplicity;  having  an  evil  principle,, 
which  absolutely  predestinates  and  causes  all  the  wickedness ;  and  a 
good  principle,  which  absolutely  predestinates  and  causes  all  the  virtue 
in  the  world.  As  for  the  God  of  Christians,  he  is  not  so  necessitated 
to  do  that  which  is  good,  but  he  might,  if  he  would,  do  the  most 
astonishing  act  of  injustice  and  barbarity  :  for  he  might,  if  he  would, 
absolutely  doom  myriads  of  unborn  infants  to  remediless  wickedness 
and  everlasting  fire,  before  they  have  deserved  this  dreadful  doom, 
so  much  as  by  the  awkward  motion  of  their  little  finger.  Nor  need 
I  tell  Mr.  Toplady  this,  who  believes  that  God  has  actually  done  so. 

2.  God  is  not  in  a  state  of  probation  under  a  superior  Being,  who 
calls  himself  the  Rewarder,  and  who  says,  Vengeance  is  mine,  and  I 
will  repay:  nor  shall  he  ever  be  tried  by  one  who  will  judicially 
render  to  him  according  to  what  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad. 

3.  If  faithful  angels  are  unchangeably  fixed  in  virtue,  and  unfaithful 
angels  in  vice,  the  fixedness  of  their  nature  is  the  consequence  of  the 
good  or  bad  use  which  they  have  made  of  their  liberty ;  and  there- 
fore their  confirmation  in  good,  or  in  evil,  flows  from  a  judicial  elec- 
tion or  reprobation,  which  displays  the  distributive  justice  of  their 
Judge,  Rewarder,  and  Avenger. 

4.  Nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  couple  Absolute  Necessity 
with  Moral  Free  Agency.  Angels  and  glorified  souls  are  necessitated 
to  serve  God  and  love  one  another,  as  a  good  man  is  necessitated  not  to 
murder  the  king,  and  not  to  blow  his  own  brains  out.  Such  a  neces- 
sity is  far  from  being  absolute  :  for,  if  a  good  man  would,  he  might 
gradually  overcome  his  reluctance  to  the  greatest  crimes.  Thus 
David,  who  was,  no  doubt,  as  chaste  and  loving  once  as  Joseph,  over- 
came his  strong  aversion  to  adultery  and  murder. 

Should  it  be  said.  What !  Can  glorified  saints  and  angels  fall  away  ? 
I  reply  :  they  will  never  fall  away,  because  they  are  called  off  the 
stage  of  probation,  stand  far  above  the  reach  of  temptation,  and  have 
henceforth  crowns  of  righteousness  laid  up  for  them,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  Judge,  shall  give  them  at  that  day.  In  the  mean  time,  they 
rest  from  their  [probatory]  labours,  and  their  works  follow  thern.  But 
still,  in  the  nature  of  things,  they  are  as  able  to  disobey,  as  Joseph 
was  to  commit  adultery,  had  he  set  his  heart  upon  it :  for,  if  they  had 
710  capacity  of  disobeying,  they  would  have  no  capacity  of  obeying,  in 
the  moral  sense  of  the  word  :  their  obedience  would  be  as  necessary, 
and  as  far  from  morality,  as  the  passive  obedience  of  a  leaden  ball, 
which  you  drop,  with  an  absurd  command  to  tend  towards  the  centre. 
If  I  am  not  mistaken,  these  answers  fully  set  aside  Mr.  T.'s  argument 
taken  from  the  necessary  goodness  of  God,  angels,  and  glorified  saints. 


VINDICATION    OP    THE    DECREES.  9^ 

Arc.  XXXII.  [page  45.]  "  God  isy  and  cannot  but  be,  inviolably 
:ust,  amidst  all  the  sufferingf?  of  fallen  angels  and  fallen  men,  involun- 
tary beings  as  they  are.  And  he  will  continue  to  be  just  in  all  they 
are  yet  to  sutfer." — That  God  is,  and  will  be  just,  in  all  that  fallen 
angels  and  men  have  suffered,  and  may  yet  suffer,  is  most  true, 
because  they  are  voluntary  beings  [Mr.  Toplady  says,  *'  involuntary 
heings'^\  and  free  agents  [Mr.  Toplady  would  say  necessary  agents~\ 
who  personally  deserve  what  they  suffer  :  or  who,  if  they  suffer 
without  persona/  offence,  as  infants  do,  have  in  Christ  a  rich  cordial, 
and  an  efficacious  remedy,  which  will  cause  their  temporary  sufferings 
to  answer  to  all  eternity  the  most  admirable  ends  for  themselves,  if 
they  do  not  reject  God's  gracious,  castigatory,  probatory,  or  purifica- 
tory counsels  towards  them,  when  they  come  to  act  as  free  agents. 
But  that  God  is  and  will  be  just,  in  absolutely  ordaining  "  involuntary 
beings^''  to  sin  and  be  damned,  is  what  has  not  yet  been  proved  by 
one  argument  which  can  bear  the  light.  However,  Mr.  Toplady, 
with  the  confidence  which  suits  his  peculiar  logic,  concludes  this 
part  of  his  subject  by  the  following  triumphal  exclamation  ; 

Arg.  XXXIil.  \lbid.'\  "  And  if  so,  what  becomes  of  the  objection  to 
God's  decree  of  Preterition'''  [a  soft  word  for  absolute  reprobation  to 
remediless  sin  and  eternal  death,]  "  drawn  from  the  article  of  injus- 
tice ?" 

Why,  it  stands  in  full  force,  notwithstanding  all  the  arguments  which 
have  yet  been  produced.  Nay,  the  way  to  show  that  an  objection  is 
unanswerable,  is  to  answer  it  as  Mr.  Toplady  has  done  ;  that  is,  by 
producing  arguments  which  equally  shock  reason  and  conscience,  and 
which  are- crowned  with  this  new  paradox  :  "  Fallen  angels,  and  fallen 
men,  are  involuntary  beings.^^  So  that  the  last  subterfuge  of  mode- 
rate Calvinists  is  now  given  up.  For  when  they  try  to  vindicate 
God's  justice,  with  respect  to  the  damnation  of  their  imaginary  repro- 
bates, they  sa3s  that  the  poor  creatures  are  damned  as  voluntary 
agents.  But  Mr.  Toplady  informs  us  that  they  are  damned  as  "  invo- 
luntary beings,^^  that  is,  as  excusable  beings  :  and  might  I  not  add,  as 
sinless  beings  ?  For  (evangelically  speaking)  is  it  possible  that  an 
involuntary  being  should  be  sinful?  Why  is  the  murderer's  sword 
sinless  ?  Why  is  the  candle,  by  which  an  incendiary  fires  your  house, 
an  innocent  flame  ?  Is  it  not  because  they  are  involuntary  beings,  or 
mere  tools  used  by  other  beings  ?  A  cart  accidentally  falls  upon  you, 
and  you  involuntarily  fall  upon  a  child  who  is  killed  upon  the  spot. 
The  father  of  the  child  wants  you  hanged  as  a  murderer :  but  the 
judge  pronounces  you  perfectly  guiltless.  Why  ?  Truly,  because  you 
was  in  that  case  an  involuntary  being^^  as    well  as   the  cart.     When 


100  ANSWER   TO    MR.    TOPLADY^S 

therefore  Mr.  Toplady  asserts  that  we  are  invpluntary  heings,  and 
insinuates  that  God  is  just  in  absolutely  predestinating  us  to  5m  neces- 
sarily,  and  to  be  damned  eternally,  he  proves  absurdum  per  absurdius 
-—injustum  per  injustius — crudele  per  crudelius.  In  a  word,  he  gives 
a  finishing  stroke  to  God's  justice  ;  and  his  pretended  "  vindication^^ 
of  that  tremendous  attribute  proves,  if  1  may  use  his  own  expression, 
a  public,  though  I  am  persuaded,  an  undesigned  "  defamaiion^^  of  it. 

SECTION  V. 

Jin  Answer   to  the   arguments,  by  which  Mr.   Toplady  endeavours  t*J 
reconcile  Calvinian  Reprobation  with  divine  Mercy. 

If  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile  Calvinian  reprobation  with  divine 
justice,  how  much  more  with  divine  mercy !  This  is  however  the 
difficult  task  which  Mr.  T.  sets  about  next.  Consider  we  his  argu- 
ments. 

Arg.  XXXIV.  [page  45.]  "  As  God's  forbearing  to  create  more 
worlds  than  he  has,  is  no  impeachment  of  his  omnipotence ;  so  his 
forbearing  to  save  as  many  as  he  might,  is  no  impeachment  of  his 
infinite  mercy." — The  capital  flaw  of  this  argument  consists  in 
substituting  still  the  phrase  "  not  saving,''''  for  the  phrase  absolutely 
reprobating  to  remediless  sin  and  everlasting  burnings.  The.  differ- 
ence between  these  phrases  which  Mr.  Toplady  uses  as  equiva- 
lent is  prodigious.  Nobody  ever  supposed  that  God  is  unmerciful 
because  he  does  not  take  stones  into  heaven,  or  because  he  does  not 
save  every  pebble  from  its  opacity,  by  making  it  transparent  and 
glorious  as  a  diamond  :  for  pebbles  suffer  nothing  by  being  passed 
by,  and  not  saved  into  adamantine  glory.  But,  if  God  made  every 
pebble  an  organized,  living  body,  capable  of  the  keenest  sensations  ; 
and  if  he  appointed  that  most  of  these  "  involuntary  [sensible] 
beings,"  should  be  absolutely  opaque,  and  should  be  cast  into  a 
lime-kiln,  there  to  endure  everlasting  burnings,  for  not  having  the 
transparency  which  he  v'ecreed  they  never  should  have ;  would 
it  not  be  impossible  to  reconcile  his  conduct  to  the  lowest  idea  we 
can  form  even  of  Bonner's  mere?/  ? 

Having  thus  pointed  out  the  sandy  foundation  of  Mr.  Toplady's 
argument,  1  shall  expose  its  absurdity  by  a  similar  way  of  arguing.  I 
am  to  prove  that  the  king  may,  without  impeachment  of  his  mercy, 
put  the  greatest  part  of  his  soldiers  in  such  trying  circumstances  as 
^hall  necessitate  them  to  desert,  and  be  shot  for  desertion.     To  do  thi? 


ViNDICATIOxV   OF    THE    DECREES.  101 

i  learn  logic  of  Mr.  T.  and  say,  "  As  the  king's  forbearing  to  creaU 
more  lords  than  he  has  is  no  impeachment  of  his  unlimited  right  of 
peerage ;  so  his  forbearing  to  raise  as  many  soldiers  as  he  might  is 
DO  impeachment  of  his  great  mercy. '^  So  far  the  argument  is  conclu- 
sive. But  if  by  not  raising  soldiers,  I  artfully  mean  absolutely  appoint- 
ing and  necessitating  them  to  desert  and  be  shot,  1  vindicate  the  king's 
mercy  as  logically  as  Mr.  T.  vindicates  the  mercy  of  Manes^s  god. 

Arg.  XXXV.  [page  46  ]  "  If  therefore  the  decree  of  [Cahinian] 
'*  reprobation  be  exploded,  on  account  of  its  imaginary  incompatibi- 
lity with  divine  mercy,  vvc  must,  upon  the  same  principle,  charge  God 
with  want  of  goodness  in  almost  every  part  of  his  relative  conduct.'* 
If  this,  dark  argument  be  brought  to  the  light,  it  will  read  thus  : 
"  God  is  infinitely  good  in  himself,  though  helirnits  the  exercise  of  his 
goodness  in  not  forming  so  many  beings  as  he  might,  and  in  not  making 
them  all  so  glorious  as  he  could :  and  therefore  he  is  infinitely  merci- 
fid,  though  he  absolutely  appoints  millions  of  unborn  creatures  to 
remediless  sin  and  everlasting  fire."  But  what  has  the  conclusion  to 
do  with  the  premiss  ?  What  would  Mr.  T.  think  of  me,  if  I  pre- 
sented the  public  with  the  following  sophism  ?  "  Nobody  can  reason- 
ably charge  the  king  with  want  of  goodness,  for  not  enriching  and  en- 
nobling every  body  :  and  therefore  nobody  can  reasonably  charge 
him  with  want  of  mercy  for  decreeing,  that  so  many  of  his  new-born 
subjects  shall  necessarily  be  trained  up  in  absolute  rebellion,  that  he 
may  legally  throw  them  into  a  fiery  furnace  for  necessarily  fulfilling 
his  absolute  decree  concerning  their  rebellion."  Nevertheless,  this 
absurd  argument  contains  just  as  much  truth  and  mercy  as  that  of 
Mr.  Toplady. 

Arg.  XXXVI.  [Ibid.]  "  There  is  no  way  of  solidly,  &c.  justifying 
the  ways  of  God  with  men,  but  upon  this  grand  Datum,  That  the 
exercise  of  his  own  infinite  mercy  is  regulated  by  the  voluntary 
determination  of  his  own  most  wise  and  sovereign  pleasure.  Allow 
but  this  rational,  scriptural,  &c.  proposition,  and  every  cavil,  grounded 
on  the  chimerical  unmercifulness  of  non-election,  ceases  even  to  be 
plausible." — The  defect  of  this  argument  consists  also  in  covering 
the  left  leg  of  Calvinism,  and  in  supposing,  that  Calvinian  non-election 
is  a  bare  non-exertion  of  a  peculiar  mercy  displayed  towards  some  ; 
whereas  it  is  a  positive  act  of  barbarity.  We  readily  grant  that  God 
is  infinitely  merciful ,  though  his  infinite  wisdom,  truth,  and  justice,  do 
not  suffer  him  to  show  the  same  mercy  to  all  which  he  does  to  some. 
But  it  is  absurd  to  suppose,  that,  because  he  is  not  bound  to  sho-or 
^f.rcy  to  all  those  who  have  personally  and  unnecessarily  offended  him. 


102  AxVSWER    TO   MR.    TOPLADY's 

[or  indeed  to  any  one  of  them,]  he  may  show  injustice  and  cruelty  te 
unborn  creatures,  who  never  personally  offended  him  so  much  as  by 
one  wandering  thought,  and  he  may  absolutely  doom  myriads  of  them 
to  5m  without  remedy^  and  to  be  damned  without  fail, 

Arg.  XXXVH.  [page  48,]  After  all  his  pleas,  to  show  that  God 
can,  without  impeachment  of  his  Holiness,  Justness,  and  Mercy,  abso- 
lutely appoint  his  unborn  creatures  to  remediless  wickedness  and 
everlasting  torments  ;  Mr.  Toplady  relents,  and  seems  a  little  ashamed 
of  Calvinian  reprobation.  He  tells  us,  that  "  Reprobation  is,  for  the 
most  part,  something  purely  negative,"  and  "  has,  so  far  as  God  is  con- 
cerned, more  in  it  of  negation  than  positivity,"  But  Mr.  Toplady 
knows  that  the  unavoidable  end  of  absolute  reprobation  is  damnation, 
and  that  the  means  conducive  to  this  fearful  end,  is  unavoidable  wick- 
edness;  and  he  has  already  told  US,  p.  17.  that  ^^  God^s  own  decree 
secures  the  means  as  well  as  the  ends,  and  accomplishes  the  end  by  the 
means."  Now  securing  and  accomplishing  a  thing,  is  something 
altogether  positive.  Hence  it  is,  that,  p.  83.  Mr.  T.  calls  the  decrees 
by  which  the  reprobates  sin,  not  only  permissive,  but  "  effective;" 
and  tells  us,  p.  77.  that  "  God  efficaciously  permitted"  horrible  wicked- 
ness. And  herein  he  exactly  follows  Calvin,  who,  in  his  Comment 
on  Rom.  ix.  18.  says,  "  Indurandi  verbum,  quum  Deo  in  Scripturis 
tribuitur  non  solum  permissionem,  (ut  volunt  diluti  quidam  modera- 
tores)  sed  divinae  quoque  iras  actionem  significat." — "  The  word 
harden,  when  it  is  attributed  to  God  in  Scripture,  means  not  only  per- 
mission, [as  some  washy,  compromising  divines  would  have  it]  but  it 
signifies  also  the  action  of  divine  wrath." 

Besides,  somethino;  negative  amounts,  in  a  thousand  cases,  to  some- 
thing positive.  A  general,  for  example,  denies  gunpowder  to  some 
of  his  soldiers,  to  whom  he  owes  a  grudge  ;  he  hangs  them  for  not 
firing,  and  then  exculpates  himself  by  saying,  "  My  not  giving  them 
powder  was  '  a  thing  purely  negative.''  1  did  nothing  to  them  to  hinder 
them  from  firing  :  on  the  contrary,  I  bade  them  fire  away."  This  is 
exactly  the  case  with  the  Manichean  god  and  his  imaginary  reprobates. 
He  bids  them  repent  or  perish — believe  or  be  damned — do  good 
works  or  depart  into  everlasting  fire.  And  yet,  all  the  while,  he 
keeps  from  them  every  dram  of  true  grace,  whereby  they  might 
savingly  repent,  believe,  and  obey.  Is  it  not  surprising  that  so  many 
of  our  Gospel  ministers  should  call  preaching  such  a  doctrine  preach- 
ing the  Gospel,  and  exalting  Christ! — But  Mr.  Toplady  replies': 

Arg.  XXXVIIl.  [page  48.]  "  If  I  am  acquainted  with  an  indigent 
neighbour,  and  have  it  in  my  power  to  enrich  him,  but  do  it  not ;  am 


rmmr A TioN  of  the  decrees.  103 

i  the  author  of  that  man's  poverty,  only  for  resolving  to  permit  him, 
and  for  actually  permitting*  him,  to  continue  poor?  Am  I  blameable 
for  his  poverty,  because  I  do  not  give  him  the  utmost  I  am  able  ?  Simi- 
lar is  the  case  now  in  debate.  Ever  since  the  fall  of  Adam  mankind 
are  by  nature  spiritually  poor." 

Mr.  T.  is  greatly  mistaken  when  he  says,  "  Similar  is  the  case  noUr' 
in  debate.'*^  To  show  that  it  is  entirely  dissimilar,  we  need  only  make 
his  partial  illustration  stand  fairly  "  upon  its  legs.""  If  you  know  that 
your  neighbour,  who  is  an  industrious  tenant  of  yours,  must  work  or 
break ;  and  if,  in  order  to  make  him  break,  according  to  your  decree 
of  the  end,  you  make  a  decree  of  the  means — an  efficacious  decree, 
that  his  cattle  shall  die,  that  his  plough  shall  be  stolen,  that  he  shall 

*  Not  unlike  this  aj-gument  is  that  of  the  Letter-writer,  on  Avhom  I  have  aheady 
bestowed  a  note,  Sect.  II. 

"  Divine  Justice  [says  he,  pp.  4,  5.]  could  not  condemn  till  the  law  was  broken." — 
True;  but  Calvinian  free  wrath  reprobated  from  all  eternity,  and  consequently  before  the 
law  was  either  broken  or  given. — "  Therefore  condemnation  did  not  take  place  before  a 
law  was  given  and  broken." — This  author  trifles;  for,  if  Calvinian  reprobation  took  place 
before  the  creation  of  Adam,  and  if  it  necessarily  draws  after  it  the  uninterrupted  breach 
of  the  law,  and  the  condemnation  consequent  upon  that  breach,  Calvinian  reprobation 
dii!ers  no  more  from  everlasting  damnation,  than  condemning  and  necessitating  a  man  tc 
commit  murder,  that  he  may  infallibly  be  hanged,  differs  from  condemning  him  to  be 
hanged. — But,  "  suppose  that  out  of  twenty  found  guilty,  his  Majesty  King  George  should 
pardon  ten,  he  is  not  the  cause  of  the  other  ten  being  executed.  It  was  his  clemency  that 
pardoned  any  :  it  was  their  breaking  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  that  condemned  them,  and 
not  his  majesty." — Indeed  it  was  his  majesty  who  condemned  them,  if  in  order  to  do  it 
without  fail,  he  made,  1.  Efficacious  and  irresistible  decrees  of  the  means,  tliat  they  should 
necessarily  and  unavoidably  be  guilty  of  robbery ;  and  2.  Efficacious  and  irresistible  decrees 
of  the  end,  that  they  should  unavoidably  be  condemned  for  their  crimes,  and  inevitable  guilt. 
The  chain  by  which  the  god  of  Manes  and  Calvin  drags  poor  reprobates  to  hell,  has  three 
capital  liiiks :  the  first  is  absolute,  unconditional  reprobation ;  the  second  is  necessary,  reme- 
diless sin;  and  the  third  is  ensured,  eternal  damnation.  Now  although  the  middle  link 
intervenes  between  the  first  and  the  last  link,  it  is  only  a  necessary  connexion  between  them : 
for,  says  Mr.  Toplady,  (p.  17.)  "  God's  own  decree  secures  the  means  as  well  as  the  end, 
and  accomplishes  the  end  by  the  means.  That  is,  (when  this  doctrine  is  applied  to  the 
present  case)  the  first  link,  which  is  Calvinian  Reprobation,  draws  the  middle,  diabolical 
link,  which  is  Remediless  Wickedness,  as  well  as  the  last  link,  which  is  Infernal  ami 
finished  Damnation.  Thus  Calvin's  god  "  accomplishes''''  damnation  by  means  of  sin ;  or, 
if  you  please,  he  draws  the  third  link  by  means  of  the  second.  Who  can  consider  this 
and  not  wonder  at  the  prejudice  of  the  Letter-writer,  who  boldly  affirms,  that,  upon  the 
Calvinian  scheme,  God  is  no  more  the  author  and  cause  of  the  damnation  of  the  repro- 
bates, than  the  king  is  the  cause  of  the  condemnation  of  the  criminals  whom  he  does  not 
pardon!  For  my  part,  the  more  I  consider  Calvljiism,  the  more  I  see  that  the  decree  oi" 
Absolute  Reprobation,  which  is  inseparable  from  the  decree  of  Absolute  Election,  rcpre- 
i?ents  God  as  the  sure  author  of  sin,  in  order  to  represent  him  as  the  sure  author  of  damna 
Hon.  The  horrible  mystery  of  Absolute  Reprobation,  JVecessary  Sin,  and  Ensured  Dam 
nation,  is  not  less  essential  to  Calvinism,  than  the  glorious  mystery  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy- 
Ghost  is  essential  to  Christianity:  and  vet  Calvinism  is  ^' the  Gospel! — the  DocfHnrs  pr 
Grncpr  ■  ' 


J  04  ANSWER   TO   MR.    TOPLADY's 

fall  sick,  and  that  nobody  shall  help  him  ;  I  boldly  say,  You  are  '« the. 
author  of  that  man's  poverty.^' — And  if,  when  you  have  reduced  him 
to  sordid  want,  and  have  by  this  means  clothed  his  numerous  family 
Vfiih  Jilthy  rags,  you  make  another  efficacious,  absolute  decree,  that  a 
majority  of  his  children  shall  never  have  a  good  garment,  and  that  at 
whatsoever  time  the  constable  shall  tind  them  with  the  only  ragged 
coat  which  their  bankrupt  father  could  afford  to  give  them,  they  shall 
all  be  sent  to  the  house  of  correction,  and  severely  whipt  there, 
merely  for  not  having  on  a  certain  coat,  which  you  took  care  they 
should  never  have  ;  and  for  wearing  the  Jilthy  rags,  which  you 
decreed  they  should  necessarily  wear,  you  show  yourself  as  merciless 
to  the  poor  man's  children,  as  you  showed  yourself  i7Z  naiwrec?  to  the 
poor  man  himself  To  prove  that  this  is  a  just  state  of  the  case,  if 
the  doctrine  of  absolute  predestination  be  true,  I  refer  the  reader  to 
Section  II.  where  he  will  find  Calvinism  on  its  legs. 

Upon  the  whole,  if  I  mistake  not,  it  is  evident  that  the  arguments 
by  which  Mr.  Toplady  endeavours  to  reconcile  Calvinian  reprobation 
with  divine  mercy,  are  as  inconclusive  as  those  by  which  he  tries  to 
reconcile  it  with  divine  justice ;  both  sorts  of  arguments  drawing  all 
their  plausibility  from  the  skill  with  which  Logica  Genevensis  tucks  up 
the  left  leg  of  Calvinism,  or  covers  it  with  deceitful  buskins,  which 
are  called  by  a  variety  of  delusive  names,  such  as  passing  by,  not 
electing,  not  owing  salvation,  limiting  the  display  of  goodness,  not 
extending  mercy  infinitely,  not  enriching,  &c.  just  as  if  all  these  phrases 
together  conveyed  one  just  idea  of  Calvinian  reprobation,  which  is 
an  absolute,  unconditional  dooming  of  myriads  of  unborn  creatures  to 
live  and  die  in  necessary  remediless  wickedness,  and  then  to  depart  into 
everlasting  fire,  merely  because  Adam,  according  to  divine  predesti- 
nation, necessarily  sinned  ;  obediently  fulfiUing  God's  absolute,  irre 
versible,  and  eflScacious  decree  of  the  means  [sin,]  An  Antinomian 
decree  this,  by  which,  if  Calvinism  be  true,  God  secured  and  accom- 
plished the  decree  of  the  end,  that  is,  the  remediless  sin  and  eternal  dam- 
nation of  the  reprobate:  for,  says  Mr.  T.  [p.  17.]  ''  God's  own  decree 
secures  the  means  as  well  as  the  end,  and  accomplishes  the  end  by  the 
meansy 

And  now,  candid  Reader,  say  if  Mr.  T.  did  not  act  with  a  degree 
of  partiality,  when  he  called  his  book  A  Vindication  of  God's  De- 
crees, ^c.  from  the  defamations  of  Mr.  Wesley ; — and  if  he  could 
not,  with  greater  propriety,  have  called  it,  »^n  unscriptural  and 
illogical  Vindication  of  the  horrible  Decree,  from  the  scriptural  anrf 
rational  exceptions  made  against  it  by  Mr.  Wesley, 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  lOi 


SECTION  VI. 


A  View  of  the  Scripture  Proofs  by  which  Mr.  T.  attempts  to  demon- 
strate  the  Truth  of  Calvinian  Reprobation. 

That  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  hold  forth  a  partial  reprobation 
of  disti7iguishing  grace,  and  an  impartial  reprobation  of  retributive 
justice^  is  a  capital  truth  of  the  Gospel.  One  of  the  leading  errors  of 
the  Calvinists  consists  in  confounding  these  two  reprobations,  and  the 
elections  which  they  draw  after  them.  By  the  impetuous  blast  of 
prejudice,  and  the  fire  of  a  heated  imagination,  modern  Aarons  melt 
the  partial  election  of  gracCy  and  the  impartial  election  of  justice ;  and, 
casting  them  in  the  mould  of  confusion^  they  make  their  one  partial 
election  of  unscriptural,  necessitating,  Antinomian /ree^race,  to  which 
they  are  obliged  to  oppose  their  one  partial  reprobation  of  necessi- 
tating Manichean  free  wrath.  Now,  as  the  Scriptures  frequently 
speak  of  the  harmless  reprobation  of  grace,  and  of  the  azsful  reproba- 
tion of  justice,  it  would  be  surprising  indeed,  if,  out  of  so  large  a  book 
as  the  Bible,  Logica  Genevensis  could  not  extract  a  few  passages, 
which,  by  being  wrested  from  the  context,  and  misapplied  according 
to  art,  seem  to  favour  Calvinian  reprobation.  Such  passages  are  pro- 
duced in  the  following  pages. 

Arg.  XXXIX.  [page  49.]  After  transcribing  Rom.  ix.  20— 23.  Mr. 
Toplady  says,  "  Now  are  these  the  words  of  Scripture,  or  are  they 
not  ?  If  not,  prove  the  forgery.  If  they  be,  you  cannot  fight  against 
reprobation  without  fighting  against  God." — Far  from  fighting  against 
Scripture  reprobation,  we  maintain,  as  St.  Paul  does  in  Rom.  ix. — 
1.  That  God  has  an  absolute  right  gratuitously  to  call  whom  he 
pleases  to  either  of  his  two  grand  covenants  of  peculiarity  [Judaism 
and  Christianity ;]  and  gratuitously  to  reprobate  whom  he  will  from 
the  blessings  peculiar  to  these  covenants  ;  leaving  as  many  nations 
and  individuals  as  he  thinks  fit,  under  the  general  blessings  of  the 
gracious  covenants,  which  he  made  with  reprieved  Adam,  and  with 
spared  Noah. — 2.  We  assert  that  God  has  an  indubitable  right  judi- 
cially to  reprobate  obstinate  unbelievers  under  all  the  dispensations  of 
bis  grace,  and  to  appoint,  that  [as  stubborn  unbelievers]  they  shall  be 
vessels  of  wrath  fitted  for  destruction  by  their  own  unbelief,  and  not  by 
God's  free  wrath.  This  is  all  the  reprobation  which  St.  Paul  con- 
tends for  in  Rom.  ix.  [See  Scales,  Vol.  iii.  Sect,  xi.]  where  Mr.  T.'s 
objection  is  answered  at  large.     Therefore,  with  one  hand  we  defend 

Vol.  IV.  14 


iOiS  ANSWER    TO   MH.    TOPLADY'h 

Scripture  reprobation ;  and  with  the  other,  we  attack  Calvinian  repw 
hation ;  maintaining  that  the  Scripture  reprobation  of  grace^  and  of 
justice,  are  as  difierent  from  Calvinian,  damning  reprobation,  as 
appointing  a  soldier  to  continue  a  soldier,  and  to  be  a  captain, 
or  a  wilful  deserter  to  be  shot,  is  different  from  appointing  a 
soldier  necessarily  to  desert,  that  he  may  be  unavoidably  shot  for 
desertion. 

Having  thus  vindicated  the  godly  reprobation  maintained  by  St.  Paul, 
from  the  misapprehensions  of  Mr.  Toplady,  we  point  at  all  the  pas- 
sages which  we  have  produced  in  the  Scripture  ScaleSy  in  defence  of 
the  doctrines  of  justice,  the  conditionality  of  the  reward  of  the  inherit- 
ance, and  the  freedom  of  the  will.  And,  retorting  Mr.  T.'s  argument, 
we  say,  ''Now,  are  these  the  words  of  Scripture,  or  are  they  not? 
If  not,  prove  the  forgery.  If  they  be,  you  cannot  fight  against  [the 
conditional]  reprobation  [which  we  defend]  without  fighting  against 
God." — You  cannot  fight  for  Calvinian  reprobation,  without  fighting 
for  free  wrath  and  the  eTjil  principled  deity  worshipped  by  the 
Bfanichees. 

Arg.  XL.  [page  61.]  Rfr.  T.  supports  absolute  reprobation  by 
quoting  1  Sam.  ii.  25.  "  They  [the  sons  of  Eli]  heai-kened  not  to  the 
voice  of  their  father,  because  the  Lord  would  slay  them,  1  Sam.  ii.  25.'' 
—Here  we  are  given  to  understand,  that,  by  the  decree  of  the 
means,  thj3  Lord  secured  the  disobedience  of  these  wicked  men,  in 
order  to  accomplish  his  decree  of  the  eiid,  that  is,  their  absolute 
destruction. 

To  this  truly  Calvinian  insinuation  we  answer,  I.  Tlie  sons  of  Eli, 
who  had  turned  the  tabernacle  into  a  house  of  ill  fame,  and  a  den  of 
thieves,  had  personally  deserved  a  judicial  reprobation ;  God  there- 
fore could  justly  give  them  up  to  a  reprobate  mind,  in  consequence 
of  their  personal,  avoidable,  repeated,  and  aggravated  crimes.  2, 
The  word  killing  does  not  here  necessarily  imply  eternal  damnation, 
The  Lord  killed,  by  a  lion,  the  man  of  God  from  Judab,  for  having 
stopped  in  Bethel  : — he  killed  JVadah  and  Mihu  for  offering  strange 
fire  :— he  killed  the  child  of  David  and  Bathsheba  :— he  killed  many 
of  the  Corinthians  for  their  irreverent  partaking  of  the  Lord's 
supper  : — but  the  sin  unto  [bodily]  death  is  not  the  sin  unto  eternal 
death  :  for  St.  Paul  informs  us,  that  the  body  is  sometimes  given  up 
to  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be  saved  in 
the  day  of  the  Lord.  1  Cor.  v.  5. — 3.  The  Hebrew  particle  "D,  which 
ia  rendered  in  our  translation  because,  means  also  therefore :  and  so 
our  translators  themselves  have  rendered  it  after  St.  Paul,  and  the 
^'cpiuagint,  ^s.  cxvi.  10.  I  believed  O  and  therefore  will  I  speah  '   se^« 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  101 

^  Cor.  17.  13.  If  they  had  done  their  part  as  well  in  translating  the 
verse  quoted  by  Mr.  Toplady,  the  doctrines  offree  wrath  would  have 
gone  propless  ;  and  we  should  have  had  these  edifving  words  :  they 
[the  sons  of  Eli]  hearkened  not  to  the  voice  of  their  father  ;  arid  there- 
fore the  Lord  would  slay  them.  Thus  the  voluntary  nn  of  free  agents 
would  be  represented  as  the  cause  of  their  deserved  reprobation ;  and 
not  their  undeserved  reprobation  as  the  cause  of  their  necessary  sin. 
See  Sect.  11. 

Arg.  XLl.  [page  51.]  Mr.  T.  tries  to  prove  absolute  reprob.ition 
by  quoting  these  words  of  our  Lord,  "  Thou  Capernaum,  which  art 
exalted  to  heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell ;  for  if  the  mighty  works 
which  have  been  done  in  thee  had  been  done  in  Sodom,  it  would  \_or 
might]  have  remained  unto  this  day."" 

This  passage,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  is  nothing  but  a  strong  expostu- 
lation and  reproof  admirably  calculated  to  shame  the  unbelief,  and 
alarra  the  fears  of  the  Capernaites.  Suppose  I  had  an  enemy,  whose 
obstinate  hatred  had  resisted  for  years  the  constant  tokens  of  my  love  ; 
and  suppose  I  said  to  him,  "  Your  obduracy  is  astonishing  :  li  I  had 
shown  to  the  fiercest  tiger  the  kindness  which  I  have  shown  you,  I 
could  have  melted  the  savage  beast  into  love  ;"  would  it  be  right,  from 
such  a  figurative  supposition,  to  conclude  that  I  absolutely  believed  I 
could  have  tamed  the  fiercest  tiger  ? 

But  this  passage,  taken  in  a  literal  sense,  far  from  proving  the 
absolute  reprobation  of  Sodom,  demonstrates  that  Sodom  was  never 
reprobated  in  the  Calvinian  sense  of  the  word  :  for  if  it  had  been 
absolutely  reprobated  from  all  eternity,  no  works  done  in  her  by 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  could  have  overcome  her  unbelief :  but  our 
Lord  observes,  that  her  strong  unbelief  could  have  been  overcome 
by  the  extraordinary  means  of  faith,  which  could  not  conquer  the 
unbelief  of  Capernaum.     Mr.  T.  goes  on. 

Arg.  XLII.  [Ibid.]  *' But  though  God  knew  the  citizens  of  Sodom 
would  [or  might]  have  reformed  their  conduct,  had  his  providence 
made  use  of  effectual  [Mv.  T.  should  say,  of  every  effectual]  means  to 
that  end  ;  still  these  effectual  [Mr.  T.  should  say,  all  these  extraordi- 
nai^  and  peculiar]  means  were  not  vouchsafed." — True  :  because, 
according  to  the  election  of  grace,  God  uses  more  means  and  more 
powerful  meaus  to  convert  some  cities,  than  he  does  to  convert 
others  :  witness  the  case  of  Nineveh,  compared  with  that  of  Jericho. 
This  is  strongly  maintained  in  my  Essay  on  the  partial  reprobation  of 
distinguishing  grace,  where  this  very  passage  is  produced.  But  still 
we  affirm  two  things  : — 1.  God  always  uses  means  sufficient  to 
demonstrate,  that  bis  goodness,  patience,  and  mercy  are  over  a'l  hi^ 


208  ANSWER  TO  MR.  TOPLADV's 

works  [though  in  different  degrees ;]  and  to  testify  that  he  is  un- 
willing that  sinners  should  die  ;  unless  they  have  first  obstinately, 
and  without  necessity,  refused  to  work  out  their  own  eternal  salvation 
with  the  talent  of  temporary  salvation,  which  is  given  to  all,  for  the 
sake  of  him  whose  saving  grace  has  appeared  to  all  rnen,  and  who 
enlightens  [in  various  degrees]  every  man  that  comes  into  the  world. 
2.  As  the  men  of  Sodom  were  not  absolutely  lost,  though  they  had  but 
07ie  talent  of  means,  no  more  were  the  men  of  Capernaum  absolutely 
saved,  though  God  favoured  them  with  so  many  more  talents  of  means 
than  he  did  the  men  of  Sodom.  Hence  it  appears  that  Mr.  T.  has 
run  upon  the  point  of  his  own  sword  ;  the  passage  which  he  appeals 
to,  proving,  that  God  does  not  work  so  irresistibly  upon  either  Jews 
or  Gentiles,  as  to  secure  his  absolute  approbation  of  some,  and  his 
absolute  reprobation  of  others. 

Arc.  XLIII.  [page  52.]  Mr.  T.,  to  prop  up  Calvinian  reprobation, 
quotes  these  words  of  Christ,  ^^  Fill  ye  up  the  measure  of  your  fa- 
thers,^' Matt,  xxiii.  32  ;  and  he  takes  care  to  produce  the  words,  Fill 
ye  up,  in  capitals  ;  as  if  he  would  give  us  to  understand,  that  Christ  is 
extremely  busy  in  getting  reprobates  to  sin  and  be  damned.  For  my 
part,  as  I  believe  that  Christ  never  preached  up  sin  and  wickedness,  I 
am  persuaded  that  this  expression  is  nothing  but  a  strong,  ironical 
reproof  of  sin,  like  that  in  the  Revelation,  Let  him  that  is  unjust  be 
unjust  still; — or  that  in  the  Gospel,  Sleep  on  now,  and  take  your  rest : 
— or  that  in  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy 
youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of  thy  heart,  kc.  but  know,  &lc.  I  shudder 
when  I  consider  "  Doctrines  of  grace,''''  so  called,  which  support 
themselves  by  representing  Christ  as  a  preacher  of  wickedness. 
Calvinism  may  be  compared  to  that  insect  which  feeds  on  putrifying 
carcasses,  lights  only  upon  real  or  apparent  sores,  and  delights  chiefly 
in  the  smell  of  corruption.  If  there  be  a  fault  in  our  translation, 
Calvinism  will  pass  over  a  hundred  plain  passages  well  translated,  and 
will  eagerly  light  upon  the  error.  Thus  p.  63  and  57.  Mr.  Toplady 
quotes,  Being  disobedient,  whereunto  they  are  appointed,  1  Pet.  ii.  8» 
He  had  rather  take  it  for  granted,  that  the  god  of  Manes  absolutely 
predestinates  some  people  to  be  disobedient,  than  to  do  the  holy  Cod 
the  justice  to  admit  this  godly  sense,  which  the  original  bears.  Being 
disobedient,  whereunto  they  have  set,  or  disposed  themselves.  See  the 
proofs,  Scales,  Vol.  iii.  p.  440.  and  Vol.  iv.  p.  32. 

Arg.  XLIV.  [page  52.]  Mr.  T.  still  pleading  for  the  horrible  decree 
of  Calvinian  reprobation,  says,  "  St.  Matthew,  if  possiblfe,  expresses 
it  still  more  strongly  :  It  is  given  unto  you  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven ;  but  to  them  it   is  not  given,   Matt.  siii.  11." — ! 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  DECREES.  109 

answer,  1.  If  by  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven^  you  under- 
stand the  mysteries  of  Christianity,  it  is  absurd  to  say,  that  all  who 
are  not  blessed  with  the  knowledge  of  these  mysteries,  are  Calvinisti- 
cally  reprobated.  This  I  demonstrate  by  verses  16,  17.  and  by  the 
parallel  place  in  St.  Luke  :  all  things  are  delivered  to  me  of  my  Father : 
and  no  man  knoweth  who  the  Son  is,  but  the  Father :  and  who  the  Father 
is,  but  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal  him.  [That  is,  the 
mystery  of  a  relative  personality  of  Father  and  Son  in  the  Godhead, 
has  not  been  expressly  revealed  to  others,  as  I  choose  to  reveal  it  to 
you,  my  Christian  friends  :]  and  [to  show  that  this  was  his  meaning] 
he  turned  him  unto  his  disciples,  and  said  privately,  Blessed  are  the  eyes 
which  see  the  things  that  ye  see :  for  I  tell  you  that  many  prophets  [such 
as  Samuel,  Isaiah,  Daniel,  &c.]  and  kings  [such  as  David,  Solomon, 
Josiah,  Hezekiah,  &c.  St.  Matthew  adds,  and  righteous  men,  such  as 
Noah,  Abraham,  &c.]  have  desired  to  see  those  things  which  ye  see,  and 
have  not  seen  them  ;  and  to  hear  the  things  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not 
heard  them.  Luke  x.  22,  23,  25.  Matt.  xiii.  17.— Is  not  Mr.  T. 
excessively  fond  of  reprobating  people  to  death,  if  he  supposes,  that 
because  it  was  not  given  to  those  prophets,  kings,  and  righteous  men^  io 
know  the  mysteries  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  they  were  all  abso- 
lutety  doomed  to  continue  in  sin,  and  be  damned  ? 

But  2.  Should  it  be  asserted,  that  by  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
we  are  to  understand  here  every  degree  of  saving  light,  then  the 
reprobation  mentioned  in  Matt.  xiii.  1 1.  is  not  the  partial  reprobation 
of  grace,  but  the  impartial  reprobation  of  justice  ;  and  in  this  case,  to 
appeal  to  this  verse  in  support  of  a  chimerical  reprobation  of  free 
wrath,  argues  great  inattention  to  the  context ;  for  the  very  next  verse 
fixes  the  reason  of  the  reprobation  of  the  Jews,  who  heard  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  without  being  benefited  by  it ; — a  reason  this  which  saps 
the  foundation  of  absolute  reprobation.  But  unto  them  it  is  not  given : 
— for  they  are  Calvinistically  reprobated  ! — No. — Unto  them  it  is  not 
given  :  for  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more 
abu7idance  :  but  whosoever  hath  not  [to  purpose]  yro?/i  him  shall  be  taken 
away,  even  that  he  hath,  Matt.  xiii.  12.  This  anti-Calvinian  sense  is 
strongly  confirmed  by  our  Lord's  words  two  verses  below  :  to  them  it 
is  not  given,  &c.  for  this  peopled  heart  is  waxed  gross :  [note  :  it  is 
waxed  gross,  therefore  it  was  not  so  gross  at  first  as  it  is  now  :]  and 
their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes  they  have  closed ;  lest  at  any 
time  they  should  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  should 
understand  with  their  heart,  and  should  be  converted,  and  I  should  heal 
them.  Matt.  xiii.  15. — To  produce  therefore  Matt.  xiii.  11.  as  a 
capital  proof  of  Calvinian  reprobation,  is  as  daring  an  imposition  upon 


liO  ANSWER  TO  MR.  TQPLADY's 

the  credulity  of  the  simple,  as  to  produce  Exodus  xx.  in  defence  of 
adultery  and  murder.  However,  such  arguments  will  not  only  be 
swallowed  down  in  Geneva  as  tolerable,  but  the  author  of  P.  6.  will 
cry  them  up  as  "  most  masterly.^'  ^ 

Arg.  XLV.  [page  53.]  Mr.  T.  concludes  his  Scripture  proofs  of  Cal- 
vinian  reprobation  by  these  words  :  "Now  I  leave  it  to  the  decision 
of  any  unprejudiced,  capable  man  upon  earth,  whether  it  be  not  evi- 
dent from  these  passages,  &ic.  that  God  hath  determined  to  leave  some 
men  to  perish  in  their  sins^  and  to  be  justly  punished  for  them  ?  In  aflBrm- 
ing  which  !  only  gave  the  Scripture  as  I  found  it." — That  the  scrip- 
tures produced  by  Mr.  T.  prove  this,  is  true  ;  we  maintain  it  as  well 
as  he ;  and  if  he  will  impose  no  other  reprobation  upon  us,  we  are 
ready  to  shake  hands  with  him.  Nor  need  he  call  his  book,  "  More 
Work  for  Mr.  Wesley, ^^  but,  A  Reconciliation  with  Mr.  Wesley:  for, 
when  we  speak  of  the  reprobation  of  justice,  we  assert  that  "  God 
hath  determined  to  leave  some  men^*  [namely,  the  wise  and  prudent  in 
their  own  eyes,  the  proud  and  disobedient,  who  do  despite  to  the 
Spirit  of  grace  to  the  end  of  their  day  of  salvation]  "  to  perish  in 
their  sins,  and  to  he  justly  punished  for  them.^^  But,  according  to  Mr. 
T.'s  system,  the  men  left  to  perish  in  their  sins,  are  not  the  men  whom 
the  scriptures  which  he  has  quoted  describe  ;  but  poor  creatures 
absolutely  sentenced  to  necessary,  remediless  sin,  and  to  unavoidable, 
eternal  damnation,  long  before  they  had  an  existence  in  their  mothers' 
womlr.  And,  in  this  case,  we  affirm  that  their  endless  torments  can 
never  he  just ;  and  of  consequence,  that  the  Calvinian  repfohaiion  of 
unborn  men,  which  Mr.  T.  has  tried  to  dress  up  in  Scripture  phrases. 
is  as  contrary  to  the  Scripture  reprobation  of  stubborn  offenders,  as 
Herod*s  ordering  the  barbarous  destruction  of  the  Holy  Innocents 
is  different  from  his  ordering  the  righteous  execution  of  bloody  ?nnr- 
derers. 


SECTION  VIL 

^n  Answer  to  the  Arguments  by  which  Mr.  T.  tries  to  reconcile  Calvi/i- 
ism  with  the  doctrine  of  a  future  judgment,  and  absolute  JVecessit'i/ 
with  MORAL  Agency. 

They  who  indirectly  set  aside  the  day  of  judgment,  do  the  cause 
of  religion  as  much  mischief,  as  they  who  indirectly  set  aside  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  Mr.  Wesley  asserts,  that  the  Calvinists  are 
the  men.  His  words  are,  "  On  the  principle  of  absolute  predestina- 
tion, there  can  be  no  future  judgment.— It  requires  more  pains  thaix 


VINDICATION   OP    THE   DECREES.  Ill 

«jil  the  men  upon  earth,  and  all  the  devils  in  hell  will  ever  be  able  to 
take,  to  reconcile  the  doctrine  of  [CaWinian]  reprobation,  with  the 
doctrine  of  a  judgment-day.^^ — Mr.  T.  answers  : 

Arg.  XLVl.  [page  82.]  '*  The  consequence  is  false  ;  for  absolute 
predestination  is  the  very  thing  that  renders  the  future  judgment 
certain  :  God  hath  appointed  a  day  in  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in 
righteousness  by  the  man  whom  he  hath  ordained.^^ — If  Mr.  T.  had  put 
the  words  in  righteousness  in  capitals,  instead  of  the  words  appointed 
and  ordained  [which,  he  fondly  hopes,  will  convey  the  idea  of  the 
Calvinian  decrees]  be  would  have  touched  the  knot  of  the  difficulty  : 
for  the  question  is  not,  Whether  there  will  be  a  day  of  judgment ; 
but.  Whether,  on  the  principle  of  absolute  predestination,  there  can 
be  a  day  of  judgment,  consistently  with  divine  equity^  justice^  wisdom^ 
and  sincerity:  and  that  there  can,  Mr.  T.  attempts  by  prove  to  the 
following  reasoning. 

Arg.  XLVII.  [page  83.]  *'  The  most  flagrant  sinners  sin  volun- 
tarily, notwithstanding  the  inevitable  accomplishment  of  God's  effect- 
ive and  permissive  decrees.  Now  they,  who  sin  voluntarily,  are 
accountable;  and  accountable  sinners  are  judicable;  and  if  judicable, 
chey  are  punishable. ^^ 

Mr.  T.  has  told  us  [p.  43.]  that  ^^  fallen  men  are  involuntary  beings ,- 
and  in  this  page  he  tells  us,  that  they  sin  voluntarily.  Now  we,  who 
never  learned  Mr.  T.'s  logic,  cannot  understand  how  involuntary 
beings  can  sin  voluntarily.  But,  letting  this  contradiction  pass,  and 
granting  that  sinners  offend  voluntarily^  I  ask.  Is  their  will  at  liberty 
to  choose  otherwise  than  it  does,  or  is  it  not?  If  you  say,  it  is  at 
liberty  to  choose  otherwise  than  it  does,  you  renounce  Necessitating 
predestination,  and  you  will  allow  the  doctrine  of  free  will,  which  is 
the  bulwark  of  the  second  Gospel  axiom,  and  the  Scripture  engine 
which  batters  down  Calvinian  reprobation  ;  and,  upon  this  scriptural 
plan,  it  is  most  certain  that  God  can  judge  the  world  in  righteousness, 
ihat  is,  in  a  manner  which  reflects  praise  upon  his  essential  justice 
and  wisdom.  But  if  you  insinuate  that  the  will  of  sinners  is  abso- 
lutely bound  by  "  the  efficacious  purposes  of  heaven,'^  and  by  the 
'•  eff^ective  decrees'^  of  him  who  *'  worketh  all  things  in  all  men,  and 
even  wickedness  in  the  wicked  ;^^ — if  you  say,  that  God's  decree  con- 
cerning every  man  is  irreversible,  whether  it  be  a  decree  of  absolute 
election  to  life,  or  of  absolute  reprobation  to  death,  "  Because  God^s 
own  decree  secures  the  means  as  well  as  the  end,  and  accomplishes  the  end 
nj  the  means,^'  p.  17.  ; — or,  which  comes  to  the  same  thing,  if  you 
assert,  that  the  reprobate  always  sin  necessarily,  having  no  power>  no 
liberty  to  will  righteousness  ;  you  answer  like  a  consistent  Calvinist, 


il2  ANSWER   TO   MR. 

and  pour  your  shame,  folly,  and  unrighteousness  upon  the  tribunal, 
where  Christ  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness. 

A  just  illustration  will  convince  the  unprejudiced  reader,  that  this 
is  really  the  case. — By  the  king's  "  efficacious  permission ^^^  a  certain 
strong  man,  called  Adam,  binds  the  hands  of  a  thousand  children 
behind  their  backs  with  a  chain  of  brass,  and  a  strong  lock,  of  which 
the  king  himself  keeps  the  key.  When  the  children  are  thus  chained, 
the  king  commands  them  all,  upon  pain  of  death,  to  put  their  hands 
upon  their  breasts,  and  promises  ample  rewards  to  those  who  will  do 
it.  Now,  as  the  king  is  absolute,  he  passes  by  700  of  the  bound 
children,  and  as  he  passes  them  by,  he  hangs  about  their  necks  a  black 
stone,  with  this  inscription,  "  Unconditional  reprobation  to  death :"  but 
being  merciful  too,  he  graciously  fixes  his  love  upon  the  rest  of  the 
children,  jusl  300  in  number,  and  he  ordains  them  to  finished  salva- 
tion by  hanging  about  their  necks  a  -white  stone,  with  this  inscription, 
*'  Unconditional  election  to  life.^^  And,  that  they  may  not  miss  their 
reward  by  non-performance  of  the  above-mentioned  condition,  he 
gives  the  key  of  the  locks  to  another  strong  man,  named  Christy  who, 
in  a  day  of  irresistible  power,  looses  the  hands  of  the  300  elect 
children,  and  chains  them  upon  their  breasts,  as  strongly  as  they 
were  before  chained  behind  their  backs.  When  all  the  elect  are 
properly  bound,  agreeably  to  orders,  the  king  proceeds  to  judge  the 
children  according  to  their  works,  that  is,  according  to  their  having 
put  their  hands  behind  their  backs,  or  upon  their  breasts.  In  the  mean 
time;  a  question  arises  in  the  court :  Can  the  king  judge  the  children 
concerning  the  position  of  their  hands,  without  rendering  himself 
ridiculous?  Can  he  wisely  reward  the  elect  favourites  with  life 
according  to  their  works,  when  he  has  absolutely  done  the  rewardable 
work  for  them  by  the  stronger  man  ?  And  can  he  justly  punish  the 
^reprobate  with  eternal  death,  for  not  putting  their  hands  upon  their 
breasts  ;  when  the  strong  man  has,  according  to  a  royal  decree, 
absolutely  bound  them  behind  their  backs  ? — "  Yes,  he  can  ;  [says  a 
counsellor,  who  has  learned  logic  in  mystic  Geneva]  for  the  children 
have  hands,  notwithstanding  the  inevitable  accomplishment  of  the 
king's  effective  and  permissive  decrees :  now,  children  who  have  hands, 
and  do  not  place  them  as  they  are  bid,  are  accountable,  and  accountable 
children  Sire  judicable  :  and  if  judicable,  they  ixTe  punishable. ^^  This 
argument  would  be  excellent,  if  the  counsellor  did  not  speak  of  hands 
which  are  absolutely  tied.  But  it  is  not  barely  the  having  hands,  but 
-the  having  hands  free,  which  makes  us  accountable  for  not  placing 
them  properly. 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  11.5 

Apply  this  plain  observation  to  the  case  in  hand,  and  you  will  see, 
4.  That  it  is  not  barely  the  having  a  will,  ])ut  the  having  free  xnill, 
which  constitutes  us  accountable,  judicable,  i\n(]  punishable  : — 2.  That, 
of  consequence,  Mr.  Toplady's  grand  argument  is  as  inconclusive  as 
that  of  the  counsellor  :— 3.  That  both  arguments  are  as  contrary  to 
good  sense,  as  the  stale  of  hands  af  liberty  is  contrary  to  the  state  of 
hands  absolutely  tied : — as  contrary  to  reason,  as  free  will  is  contrary 
to  a  will  absolutely  bound : — And  4.  That,  of  consequence,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  day  of  judgment  is  as  incompatible  with  Calvinian  pre- 
destination, as  sense  with  nonsense,  and  Christ  with  Belial. 

However,  if  Mr.  T.  cannot  carry  bis  point  by  Reason,  he  will  do 
it  by  Scripture  ;  and  therefore  he  raises  such  an  argument  as  this  : 
we  often  read  in  the  Bible,  that  there  will  be  a  day  of  judgment :  we 
often  meet  also  in  the  Bible  with  the  words  must  and  necessity;  and 
therefore,  according  to  the  Bible,  the  doctrine  of  a  day  of  judgment 
is  consistent  with  the  doctrine  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  human 
actions  :  just  as  if,  in  a  thousand  cases,  a  degree  of  necessity,  or  a 
m^ist,  were  not  as  different  from  absolute  necessity,  as  the  want  of  an 
apartment  in  the  king's  palace  is  different  from  the  absolute  want  of  a 
room  in  any  house  in  the  kingdom.  The  absurdity  of  this  argument 
will  be  better  understood,  by  considering  the  passages  which  Mr.  T. 
produces  to  prove  that  when  men  do  good  or  evil,  God's  absolute 
decree  of  predestination  necessitates  them  to  do  it. 

Arc.  XLVllI.  [page  60.]  ^'  It  must  needs  be  that  off^cnces  come. — 
There  must  be  heresies  among  you — Such  things  [wars,  4'C.]  must  needs 
be."" — WhcTi  Mr.  T.  builds  Calvinian  necessity  upon  these  scriptures, 
he  is  as  much  mistaken  as  if  he  fancied  that  Mr.  Wesley  and  I  were 
fatalists,  because  we  say,  "  Considering  the  course  and  wickedness 
of  the  world,  it  cannot  be  but  Christendom  will  be  distracted  by 
heresies,  law-suits,  wars,  and  murders  :  for  so  long  as  men  will  follow 
worldly  maxims,  rather  than  evangislical  precepts,  such  things  must 
come  to  pass. ^^ — Again,  would  not  the  reader  think  that  I  trifled,  if  I 
attempted  to  prove  absolute  necessity  from  such  scriptural  expressions 
as  these  ?  Seven  days  rje  must  eat  unleavened  bread. — New  wine  must 
be  put  into  new  bottles. — He  must  needs  go  through  Samaria. — /  have 
bought  a  piece  of  ground,  and  I  must  needs  go  and  see  it. — How  can  1 
sin  against  God  ?  I  have  married  a  wife,  and  therefore  I  cannot  come^ 
The  multitude  must  needs  come  together  [to  mob  Paul.]  Acts  xxi.  22. — 
A  bishop  must  be  blameless. — Ye  must  needs  be  subject,  [to  rulers]  not 
only  for  wrath,  but  also  for  conscience  sake. 

Once  more  :  who  does  not  see,  that  there  is  what  the  poverty  of 
language  obliges  me  to  call,  1.  A  necessity  of  duty     ''1  muftt  pay  mv 

Vor.  IV.  15         '  ' 


214  ANSWER   TO   MR. 

debts  : — I  must  preach  next  Sunday." — 2.  A  necessity  of  civility  :  **  1 
must  pay  such  a  visit." — 3.  A  necessity  of  circumstance  :  "  In  going 
from  Jerusalem  to  Galilee,  I  must  needs  pass  through  Samaria^  because 
the  highway  lies  directly  through  Samaria"— 4.  A  necessity  of  can- 
venience  :  "  I  am  tired  with  writing  ;  I  must  leave  off." — 6.  A  necessity 
o{  decency  :  "  I  must  not  go  naked." — 6.  A  necessity  of  prudence  :  "  I 
must  look  before  I  leap,"  &c.  Now,  all  these  sorts  of  necessity,  and 
a  hundred  more  of  the  like  stamp,  do  not  amount  to  one  single  grain 
of  Calvinian,  absolute,  insuperable  necessity.  However,  a  rigid  pre- 
destinarian  [such  is  the  force  of  prejudice  !]  sees  his  imaginary 
necessity  in  almost  every  must ;  just  as  a  jealous  man  sees  adultery  in 
almost  every  look  which  his  virtuous  wife  casts  upon  the  man  whom 
he  fancies  to  be  his  rival. 

Arg.  XLIX.  [page  61.]  "Absolute  necessity,  then,  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  willingness  and  freedom  in  good  agency,  no  less  than 
in  bad.  For  it  is  a  true  maxim,  Ubi  voluntas,  ibi  libertas.''^  That  is, 
where  there  is  a  willy  there  is  liberty.  This  maxim,  which  has  led  many 
good  men  into  Calvinism,  I  have  already  exposed  ;  see  Scales,  Vol.  iii, 
p.  219.  To  what  is  there  advanced,  I  add  the  following  remark  :  As 
there  may  be  liberty  where  there  is  not  a  will,  so  there  may  be  a 
will  where  there  is  not  liberty.  The  tirst  idle  schoolboy  whom  you 
meet  will  convince  you  of  it.  I  ask  him,  "  When  you  are  at  school, 
and  have  a  will,  or,  as  you  call  it,  a  mind  to  go  and  play^  have  you 
liberty,  or  freedom  to  do  ii  V^  He  answers  *' No."  Here  is  then 
a  will  without  liberty,  I  ask  him  again,  "  When  you  are  at  school, 
where  you  have  freedom  or  liberty  to  ply  your  book,  have  you  a  will 
to  do  it."  He  honestly  answers  *'  JVo"  again.  Here  is  then  liberty 
without  a  will.  How  false  therefore  is  this  proposition,  that  where 
there  is  a  will  there  is  liberty  !  Did  judicious  Calvinists  consider  this, 
they  would  no  more  say,  "  If  all  men  were  redeemed,  they  would  all 
come  out  of  the  dungeon  of  sin."  For  there  may  be  a  freedom  to 
come  out  consequent  upon  redemption,  where  there  is  no  will  exer- 
cised.— "  Qh,  but  God  makes  us  wiUing  in  the  day  of  his  power." 
True  :  in  the  day  of  salvation  he  restores  to  us  the  faculty  of  choos- 
ing moral  good  with  some  degree  of  ease  ;  and,  from  time  to  time,  he 
peculiarly  helps  us  to  make  acts  of  willingness.  But  to  suppose  that 
he  absolutely  wills  for  us,  is  as  absurd  as  to  say,  that  when,  after  a 
quinsy,  his  gracious  providence  restores  us  a  degree  of  liberty  to 
swallow,  he  necessitates  us  to  eat  and  drink,  or  actually  swallows 
for  us. 

Arg.  L.  [page  61.]     In  his  refusal  (o   dismiss   the  Israelites,  &c 
''  he  [Pharaoh]  could  will  no  otherwise  than  he  did,  Exod.  vii.  3,  4."" 


VINDICATION   OF    THE    DECREES.  115 

— Is  not  this  a  mistake  ?  When  Pharaoh  considered,  did  he  not  alter 
his  mind  /  Did  he  not  say  to  Moses,  Be  gone,  and  bless  me  also?  If 
Omnipotence  had  absolutely  hardened  him,  could  he  have  complied  at 
last  ?  Do  the  unchangeable  decrees  change  as  the  will  of  Pharaoh 
changed  ? 

Arc.  LI.  [p.  61,  62.]  "So  when  Saul  went  home  to  Gibeah,  it 
is  said,  There  talent  with  him  a  band  of  meiiy  whose  hearts  God  had 
touched.  In  like  manner  God  is  said  to  have  stirred  up  the  spirit  of 
Cyrus. — Then  rose  up,  kc.  the  Levites,  with  all  them  whose  spirit  God 
had  raised  up.  Will  any  man  say,  that  these  did  not  will  freely^  only 
because  they  willed  necessarily  ?" 

1.  I  [for  one]  say,  that  while  they  willed  necessarily,  [in  the  Cal- 
vinian  sense  of  the  word  necessary]  they  did  not — they  could  not  will 
freely  [in  the  moral  sense  of  the  word  free.]  For  Mr.  T.  is  not 
morally /ree  to  will  so  long  as  he  is  absolutely  bound  to  will  one  thing  ; 
any  more  than  a  man  is  free  to  look  to  the  left,  who  is  absolutely  bound 
to  look  to  the  right ;  let  the  object  he  looks  at  engage  his  heart  and 
eye  ever  so  pleasingly.  God's  Spirit  prevents,  accompanies,  and 
follows  us  in  ever}'  good  thing  :  all  our  good  works  are  begun,  con- 
tinued, and  ended  in  him :  but  they  are  not  necessary,  in  the  Calvinian 
sense  of  the  word.  In  moral  cases  God  does  not  absolutely  neces- 
sitate us,  though  he  may  do  it  m  prophetic 'dndi  political  cdi?,es.  Thus, 
he  necessitated  Balaam,  when  he  blessed  Israel  by  the  mouth  of  that 
covetous  prophet ;  and  thus  he  necessitated  Balaam's  ass,  when  the 
dumb  animal  reproved  his  rider's  madness.  But  then,  whatever  we 
do,  under  such  necessitating  impulses,  will  not  be  rewarded  as  our  owq 
work,  any  more  than  Balaam's  good  prophecy,  and  his  ass's  good 
reproof,  were  rewarded  as  their  own  works. 

2.  From  the  above-mentioned  passages,  Mr.  T.  would  make  us 
believe,  that,  upon  the  whole,  the  touches  of  God's  grace  act  neces- 
sarily like  charms  :  but  what  says  the  stream  of  the  Scriptures  ? — 
God  touched  the  hearts  of  all  the  Israelites,  and  stirred  them  up  to 
faith  :  but  the  effect  of  that  touch  was  so  far  from  being  absolutely 
forcible,  that  their  hearts  soon  started  aside  like  a  broken  bow ;  and, 
after  having  been  saved  in  Egypt  through* /mi^,  they  perished  in  the 
wilderness  through  unbelief.  God  gave  king  Saul  a  new  heart ;  and 
yet  Saul  cast  away  the  heavenly  gift. — God  gave  Solomon  a  wise  and 
understanding  heart ;  and  yet  Solomon,  in  his  old  age,  made  himself 
a  foolish  heart,  darkened  by  the  love  of  heathenish  women.  God 
stirred  up  the  heart  of  Peter  to  confess  Christ,  and  to  walk  upon  the 
sea  ;  and  yet,  by  and  by,  Peter  sunk,  cursed,  swore,  and  denied  his 
liord.— Awful  demonstrations  these,  that  where  divine  grace  works 


ii'ij  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY  c 

most  powerfully,  when  its  first  grand  impulse  is  over,  there  is  an  en4 
of  the  overbearing  power  ;  and  the  soul,  returning  to  its  free  agency^ 
chooses  without  necessity  the  good  which  constitutes  her  rewardable ; 
or  the  evil  which  constitutes  her  punishable.  Of  this  Mr.  Toplady 
himself  produces  a  remarkable  instance,  2  Cor.  viii.  16,  17.  "  Thanks 
be  to  God  [says  the  apostle]  who  put  the  same  earnest  care  into  the  heart 
of  Titus  for  you  ; — of  his  own  accord  he  went  unto  you.^^ 

If  a  gentleman,  who  delights  to  be  in  houses  of  ill-fame,  more  than 
in  the  house  of  God,  sees  in  a  circle  of  ladies  one  whom  he  suspects 
of  being  immodest,  he  singles  her  out  as  one  that  may  suit  his  pur- 
pose :  and  to  her  he  makes  his  bold  addresses.  I  am  sorry  to 
observe  that  this  is  exactly  the  case  with  Calvinism  unmasked.  We 
iind  in  the  Scriptures  a  few  places  where  God's  suffering  some  men 
to  do  a  lesser  evil,  in  order  to  prevent,  or  to  punish  a  greater  evil,  is 
expressed  in  a  strong,  figurative  manner,  which  seems  to  ascribe  sin 
to  Him,  just  as  in  other  places,  jealousy,  repentance,  wrath,  and  fury^ 
together  with  hands,  feet,  ears,  and  a  nose,  are  figuratively  attributed 
to  him.  Now,  as  Popish  Idolatry  screens  herself  behind  these  meta- 
phors, so  Calvinian  Antinomianism  perpetually  singles  out  those 
metaphorical  expressions,  which  seem  to  make  God  the  author  of  sin. 
Accordingly, 

Arc.  LII.  [page  61,  kc]  Mr.  T.  produces  these  words  of  Joseph, 
''  It  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God  ;^' — these  words  of  David, 
'•  The  Lord  said  to  him,  [Shimei]  curse  David;'*'' — these  words  of  the 
sacred  historian,  "  God  had  appointed  to  defeat  the  good  counsel  of 
Ahithophel,  to  the  intent  that  the  Lord  might  bring  evil  upon  Absalom ;" 
and  these  words  of  the  prophet,  "  Howbeit,  he  [the  Assyrian  king, 
turned  loose  upon  Israel  to  avenge  God's  righteous  quarrel  with  that 
hypocritical  people]  meaneth  not  so,  neither  does  his  heart  think  so : 
but  it  is  in  his  heart  to  destroy  ;'''* — these  words  in  the  Revelation,  "  God 
hath  put  into  their  hearts  [the  hearts  of  the  kings  who  shall  hate  the 
mystic  harlot^  and  destroy  her,  and  burn  her  with  fire^  to  fulfil  his  willy 
and  to  agree,  and  to  give  their  kingdom  to  the  beast,  till  the  words  of 
God  shall  be  fulfilled  ;'^ — and  the  words  of  Peter,  *'  They  [the  accom- 
plishers  of  the  crucifixion  of  Christ]  zvere  gathered  together  to  do 
whatsoever  God^s  hand  and  God''s  counsel  had  predestinated  to  be 
done.,''''  &c. 

With  respe(^t  to  the  last  text,  if  it  be  rightly*  translated,  it  is 
explained  by  these  words  of  Peter,  Acts  ii.  23.     Christ  was  delivered 

>  With  Episcopius,  and  some  other  learned  critics,  I  doubt  it  is  not.  Why  should  it  not 
be  read  thus  ?  Acts  iv.  26 — 23.  The  rulers  were  gathered  together  against  the  Lord  and 
igaiml  his  Christ.    .For  of  a  truth  against  thy  holy  child  Jesvs,  whom  thou  hast  oMointHfiy 


VINDICATION   OF   THE    DECREES.  117 

by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God  : — by  his  gracious 
r.ounsel,  that  Christ  should  lay  down  his  life  as  a  ransom  for  all : — 
And  by  his  dear  foreknowledge  of  the  disposition  of  the  Jews  to  take 
that  precious  life  away.  This  passage,  then,  and  all  those  which  Mr. 
T.  has  produced,  or  may  yet  produce,  only  prove, 

'1.  That  God  foresees  the  evil  which  is  in  the  hearts  of  the  wicked, 
and  their  future  steps  in  peculiar  circumstances,  with  ten  thousand 
times  more  clearness  and  certainty  than  a  good  huntsman  foresees 
all  the  windings,  doublings,  and  shifts  of  a  hunted  fox  :  and  that  he 
overrules  their  wicked  counsels  to  the  execution  of  his  own  wise  and 
holy  designs,  as  a  good  rider  overrules  the  mad  prancings  of  a  vicious 
horse,  to  the  display  of  his  perfect  skill  in  horsemanship,  and  to  the 
treading  down  of  the  enemy  in  a  day  of  battle.  2.  That  God  catches 
the  wise  in  their  own  craftiness^  and  that  to  punish  the  wicked,  he 
permits  their  wicked  counsels  to  be  defeated,  and  their  best-con- 
certed schemes  to  prove  abortive.  3.  That  he  frequently  tries  the 
faith,  and  exercises  the  patience  of  good  men,  by  letting  loose  the 
wicked  npon  them,  as  in  the  case  of  Job  and  of  Christ.  4.  That  he 
often  punishes  the  wickedness  of  one  man  by  letting  loose  upon  him 
the  wickedness  of  another  man  ;  and  that  he  frequently  avenges  him- 
self of  one  wicked  nation  by  letting  loose  upon  it  the  wickedness  of 
another  nation.  Thus  he  let  Absalom  and  Shimei  loose  upon  David. 
Thus  a  parable  spoken  by  the  prophet  Micaiah  informs  us,  that 
God,  after  having  let  a  lying  spirit  loose  upon  Zedekiah  the  false 
prophet,  let  Zedekiah  loose  upon  wicked  Ahab.  Thus  the  Lord  let 
loose  the  Philistines  upon  disobedient  Israel,  and  the  Romans  upon 
the  obdurate  Jews  and  their  accursed  city  ;  using  those  wicked  hea- 
then as  his  vindictive  scourge,  just  as  he  used  swarms  of  frogs  and 
locusts,  when   he   punished  rebellious  Egypt  with  his  plagues. — 5- 

{both  Herod  and  Pontius  Pilate  with  the  Qentiles  and  the  people  of  Israd  were  gathered 
together)  for  to  do  v;hatsocver  thy  hand  and  thy  counsel  determined  before  to  be  done. — By 
putting  the  clause  both  Herod,  &c.  in  a  parenthesis,  you  have  this  evangeh'cal  sense,  which 
give?  no  handle  to  the  pleaders  for  sin,  Both  Herod  and  Pilate  4"c.  were  gathered  together 
against  thy  holy  child  Jesvs,  lohom  thou  hast  anointed  for  to  do  whatsoever  thy  hand  and 
counsel  before  determined  to  be  done.  I  prefer  this  reading  to  the  common  one  for  tho  fol- 
lowing reasons  :  1.  It  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  Greek ;  and  the  peculiar  construction  of 
the  sentence  is  expressive  of  the  peculiar  earnestness  with  which  the  apostles  prayed.  2. 
It  is  attended  with  no  Manichean  inconveniency.  3.  It  is  more  agreeable  to  the  context. 
For,  if  the  Sanhedrim  was  gathered  by  God's  direction  and  decree,  in  order  to  threaten  the 
apostles,  with  what  f)ropriety  could  they  say  [ver.  29.]  A^w,  Lord,  behold  their  tfireat- 
enings? — And  4.  It  is  strongly  supported  by  verse  30,  where  Peter  [after  having  observed 
verse  27,  28,  according  to  our  reading,  that  God  had  anointed  his  holy  child  Jesus  fo  do  all 
the  miracles  which  he  did  on  earth]  prays,  that  now  Christ  is  gone  to  heaven,  the  effects  of 
this  powerful  anointing  may  continue,  and  signs  and  wonders  may  still  he  done  by  (he  name 
efhis  holy  child  Jesvs. 


IIS  ANSWER    TO   MR.    TOPLADY's 

That  he  sometimes  lets  a  wicked  man  loose  upon  himself,  as  in  the 
case  of  Mithcphel,  JVabal,  and  Judas,  who  became  tbt- ir  own  exe- 
cutioners. 6.  That  when  wicked  men  are  going  to  commit  atrocious 
wickedness,  he  sometimes  inclines  their  hearts  so  to  relent,  that  ihey 
commit  a  less  crime  than  they  intended.  For  instance,  when  Joseph's 
brethren  were  going  to  starve  him  to  death,  by  providential  circum- 
stances God  inclined  their  hearts  to  spare  his  life  :  thus  instead  of 
destroying  him,  they  only  sold  him  into  Egypt.  7.  With  respect  to 
Rev.  xvii.  17.  the  context,  and  the  full  stream  of  the  Scripture, 
require  that  it  should  be  understood  thus  :  "  as  God,  by  providential 
circumstances,  which  seemed  to  favour  their  worldly  views,  suffered 
wicked  kings  to  agree,  and  give  their  kingdom  unto  the  beast,  to  help 
the  beast  to  execute  God's  judgments  upon  corrupted  churches  and 
wicked  states ;  so  he  will  peculiarly  let  those  kings  loose  upon  the 
whore,  and  they  shall  agree  to  hate  her,  and  shall  make  her  desolate 
and  naked." 

Upon  the  whole,  it  is  contrary  to  all  the  rules  of  criticism,  decency, 
and  piety,  to  take  advantage  of  the  dark  construction  of  a  sentence,  or 
to  avail  oneself  of  a  parable,  a  hyperbole,  a  bold  metaphor,  or  an 
unguarded  saying  of  a  good  man  interwoven  with  the  thread  of  Scrip- 
ture history  ;  in  order  to  make  appear  [so  far  as  Calvinism  can]  that 
'"  God  worketh  all  things  in  all  men,  even  wickedness  in  the  wicked." 
Such  a  method  of  wresting  the  oracles  of  God,  to  make  them  speak 
the  language  of  Belial  and  Moloch,  is  as  ungenerous,  as  our  inferring 
from  these  words,  /  do  not  condemn  thee,  that  Christ  does  not  condemn 
adulterers ;  that  Christianity  encourages  adultery  ;  and  that  thi^  single 
sentence,  taken  in  a  filthy,  Antinomian  sense,  outweighs  all  the  ser- 
mon upon  the  mount,  as  well  as  the  holy  meaning  of  the  context :  for 
these  words  being  spoken  to  an  adulteress,  whom  the  magistrates  had 
not  condemned  to  die,  and  whom  the  Pharisees  wanted  Christ  to 
condemn  to  he  stoned  according  to  thh  law  of  Moses ;  it  is  evident  that 
our  Lord's  words,  when  taken  in  connexion  with  the  context,  carry 
this  edifying  meaning  :  "  I  am  come  to  act  the  part  of  a  Saviour,  and 
tQOt  that  of  a  Magistrate :  if  the  magistrates  have  not  condemned  thee 
to  be  stoned,  neither  do  I  condemn  thee  to  that  dreadful  kind  of  death  : 
avail  thyself  of  thy  undeserved  reprieve  :  go,  and  repent,  and  evi- 
dence the  sincerity  of  thy  repentance  b}'  sinning  no  inore.^'' — Hence 
I  conclude,  that  all  the  texts  quoted  by  the  fatalists,  prove  that  God 
necessitates  men  to  sin  by  his  decrees,  just  as  John  viii.  11.  proves  that 
Christ  countenances  the  filthy  sin  of  adultery. 

Arg.  LIII.  [p.  64.]  Mr.  T.  thinks  to  demonstrate  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  absolute  necessity  of  all  our  actions,  and  consequently  of  all  our 


VINDICATION   OP    THE    DECREES.  119 

sins,  is  true,  hy  producing  St.  Paurs  case  as  a  preacher.  •'  Though 
I  preach  the  Gospel  I  have  nothing  to  glory  of;  for  necessity  is  laid  upon 
me,  yeOj  wo  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel,  1  Cor.  ix.  16.  Yet  he 
preached  the  Gospel  freely,  &.c.  JVecessity  therefore  and  freedom, 
are  very  good  friends,  notwithstanding  all  tlie  efforts  of  Arminianism 
to  set  them  at  variance." — The  apostle  evidently  speaks  here  of  a 
necessity  of  precept  on  God's  part,  and  of  duty  on  his  own  part  :  and 
such  a  necessity  being  perfectly  consistent  with  the  alternative  of 
obedience  or  of  disobedience ,  is  also  perfectly  consistent  with  freedom 
and  with  a  day  of  judgment:  and  Mr.  T.  trifles  when  he  speaks  of 
all  the  eff'orts  of  Arminianism  to  set  such  a  necessity  at  variance  zvith 
freedom;  for  it  is  the  distinguishing  glory  of  our  doctrine,  to  maintain 
both  the  freedom  of  the  will,  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of  cordial 
obedience.  But  in  the  name  of  candour  and  common  sense  I  ask, 
What  has  a  necessity  of  precept  and  duty  to  do  with  Cahinian  necasity, 
which  in  the  day  of  God's  power  absolutely  necessitates  the  elect  to  obey, 
and  the  reprobate  to  disobey ;  entirely  debarring  the  former  from  the 
alternative  of  disobedience,  and  the  latter  from  the  alternative  of  obedi- 
ence ?  That  the  apostle,  in  the  text  before  us,  does  not  mean  a  Calvinian, 
absolute  necessity,  is  evident  from  the  last  clause  of  the  verse,  where 
he  mentions  the  possibility  of  his  disobeying,  and  the  punishment  that 
awaited  him  in  case  of  disobedience  :  wo  is  me,  says  he ^  if  I  preach 
not  the  Gospel. — A  necessity  of  precept  was  laid  on  Jonah  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  Ninevites  ;  but  this  necessity  was  so  far  from  Calvinis- 
tically  binding  him  to  preach,  that  (like  Demas,  and  the  clergy  who 
fleece  a  flock  which  they  do  not  feed)  he  ran  away  from  his  appointed 
work,  .and  incurred  the  wo  mentioned  by  the  apostle.  Therefore, 
St.  Paul's  words,  candidly  taken  together,  far  from  establishing  abso- 
lute necessity,  which  admits  of  no  alternative,  are  evidently  subversive 
of  this  dangerous  error,  which  exculpates  the  sinner,  and  makes  God 
the  author  of  sin. 

Hence  Mr.  Wesley  says  with  great  truth,  that  if  the  doctrines  of 
absolute  predestination  and  Calvinian  necesisity  are  (rue,  there  can  be 
no  sin  ;  seeing  "  It  cannot  be  a  sin  in  a  spark  to  rise,  or  in  a  stone  to 
fall."  And  therefore  "  the  reprobate^''  [tending  to  evil  by  the  irresisti- 
ble power  of  Divine  predestination,  as  unavoidably  as  stones  tend  to 
the  centre,  by  the  irresistible  force  of  natural  gravitation]  "  can  have 
no  sin  at  alL^^ — This  is  a  just  observation,  taken  from  the  absurdity  oi' 
the  doctrine  of  an  absolute  necessity,  originally  brought  on  by  God's 
absolute  and  irresistible  decrees.  Let  us  see  how  Mr.  T.  shows  his^ 
wit  on  this  occasion. 


120  ANSWER  TO  MR,  TOI'LADY's 

Arg.  LI  v.  [pp.  71,  72.]  ''The  reprobate  can  have  no  sin  at  alt^ 
Indeed  !  They  are  quite  sinless,  are  they?  As  perfect  as  Mr.  Wesley 
himself?  O  excellent  reprobation  !  &c.  What  then  must  the  elect 
be?  &c.  Besides  :  if  reprobates  be  sinless — nay,  immutably  perfect, 
so  that  they  can  have  no  sin  at  all,  will  it  not  follow  that  Mr.  Wesley's 
own  perfectionists  are  reprobates  ?  For  surely  if  reprobates  may  be 
sinlesSy  the  sinless  may  be  reprobates.  Did  not  Mr.  John's  malice 
outran  his  crafty  when  he  advanced  an  objection,  &c.  so  easily 
retortible  ?" 

This  illogical,  not  to  say  illiberal  answer,  is  of  a  piece  with  the 
challenge,  which  the  reader  may  see  illustrated  at  the  end  of  Sect.  I. 
by  my  remarks  upon  a  consequence  as  just  as  that  of  Mr.  Wesley  ; 
for  it  is  as  evident,  that  if  the  reprobate  are  "  involuntary  beings,^'' — 
beings  absolutely  necessitated  by  effi,cacious,  irresistible  predestination 
to  act  as  they  do,  they  are  as  really  sinless  as  a  mountain  of  gold  is 
really  heavier  than  a  handful  of  feathers.  And  Mr.  W^esley  may 
believe  that  both  consequences  are  just,  without  believing  either  that 
the  wicked  are  sinless,  or  that  there  is  a  mountain  of  gold.  On  what  a 
slender  foundation  does  Logica  Genevensis  rest  her  charges  of  croft 
and  malice !  And  yet,  this  foundation  is  as  solid  as  that,  on  which  she 
raises  her  doctrines  of  unscriptural  grace  and  free  wrath.  But  Mr. 
T,  advances  other  arguments. 

Arg.  LV.  [p.  69,  70.]  "  The  holy  Baptist,  without  any  ceremony 
ot  scruple,  compared  some  of  his  unregenerate  hearers  to  stones  - 
saying,  God  is  able  even  of  these  stories  to  raise  up  children  to  Abraham^ 
&c.  Ye,  therefore,  as  lively  stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house,  &c. 
They  (the  elect)  shall  be  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts — in  the  day  when 
I  make  up  my  jewels:  now,  unless  I  am  vehemently  mistaken,  jewels 
are  but  another  name  for  precious  stones."— Hence  the  reader  is 
given  to  understand,  that  when  Mr.  Wesley  opposes  the  doctrine  of 
absolute  Necessity,  by  saying,  that  It  cannot  be  a  sin  in  a, stone  to  fall,  he 
turns  "  the  Bible's  own  artillery  against  itself,  and  gives  us  too  much 
room  to  fear  that  'tis  as  natural  to  him  to  pervert — as  it  is  for^ — a  stone. 
to  sink."    .  ' 

By  such  arguments  as  these,  I  could  prove  transubsfcantiation  :  for 
Christ  said  of  a  bit  of  bread.  This  is  my  body.— Nay,  I  could  prove 
any  other  absurdity  :  I  could  prove  that  Christ  could  not  think,  and 
that  his  disciples  could  not  walk :  for  he  says,  /  am  the  vine,  and  ye 
are  the  branches  ;  and  a  vine  can  no  more  think  than  branches  can  walk. 
—I  could  prove  that  he  was  nhen,  and  the  3 ew?,  chickens:  for  he  says, 
that  he  would  have  gathered  them,  as  a  hen  gathers  her  chickens  under- 
her  wings.     Nay,  I  could  prove  that  Christ  had  no  more  hand  in  our 


VINDICATION  OP  THE  DECREES.  121 

redemption,  than  we  are  supposed  by  Calvinists  to  have  in  our  conver- 
sion; that  his  ''  poor  free  will  [to  use  Mr.  Toplady's  expression,  page 
70,  with  respect  to  us]  "  had  no  employ,^''  that  he  was  "  absolutely 
passive,  and  ihaV'  redemption  "  is  as  totally  the  operation  o/"  the 
Father  "  as  the  severing  of  stones  from  their  native  quarry,  and  the 
erecting  them  into  an  elegant  building,  are  the  effects  of  human  agency.'' 
— If  the  astonished  reader  ask,  how  I  cjin  prove  a  proposition  so  sub- 
versive of  the  gratitude  which  we  owe  to  Christ  for  our  redemption  ? 
I  reply,  By  the  very  same  argument  by  which  Mr.  T.  proves  that 
we  are  ^^  absolutely  passive^^  in  the  work  of  conversion,  and  that 
^^  conversion  is  totally  the  operation  of  God  :^^  that  is,  by  producing 
passages  where  Christ  is  metaphorically  called  a  stone  ;  and  of  these 
there  are  not  a  few.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zioa  a 
stone,  a  tr.ied  stone,  a  precious  corner  stone,  a  sure  foundation.  Isa. 
xxviii.  16. — Whosoever  shall  fall  on  this  stone  shall  be  broken;  but  on 
"whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  grind  him  to  powder.  Matt.  xxi.  34. — 
The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected  is  become  the  head  of  the  corner. 
Acts  iv.  1 1. — To  whom  coming  as  to  a  living  stone,  &c.  1  Pet.  ii.  4. — 
If  to  these  texts  we  add  those,  in  which  he  is  compared  to  i\  founda- 
tion, to  a  rock,  and  to  jewels,  or  precious  stones,  I  could  demonstrate 
[in  the  Calvinian  way]  that  Christ  was  once  as  "  absolutely  passive'" 
in  the  work  of  our  redemption  as  a  stone.  When  I  consider  such 
arguments  as  these,  I  cannot  help  wondering  at  the  gross  impositions 
of  Pagan,  Popish,  and  Calvinian  Doctors.  I  find  myself  again 
in  the  midst  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses.  Jupiter,  if  we  believe  the 
poet,  turned  jYiobe  into  a  rock.  The  tempter  wanted  Christ  to 
turn  a  stone  into  bread.  Logica  Romana  turns  bread  into  Christ.  But 
Logica  Genevensis  carries  the  bell,  for  she  can,  even  without  the 
Hocus  Pocus  of  a  massing  Priest,  turn  Christ  into  a  stone. — Mr.  Top* 
lady,  far  from  recanting  his  argument  a  lapide  confirms  it  by  the 
following ; 

Arg.  LVI.  [p.  71.]  *' A  stone  has  the  advantage  of  you  :  man's 
rebellious  heart  is  by  nature,  and  so  far  as  spiritual  things  are  con- 
cerned, MORE  intractable  and  unyielding  than  a  stone  itself.  I  may 
take  up  a  stone,  and  throw  it  this  way  or  that — and  it  obeys  the  im- 
pulse of  my  arm.  Whereas  in  the  sinner's  heart,  there  is  every 
species  of  hatred  and  opposition  to  God  :  nor  can  any  thing,  but 
omnipotent  power,  slay  its  enmity.'* 

I  am  glad  Mr.  T.  vouchsafes,  in  this  place,  to  grant  that  omnipotent 
power  can  slay  the  enmity.  I  hope  he  will  remember  this  concession, 
and  no  more  turn  from  the  Prince  of  life,  to  preach  up  the  n)or>ster 
Death,  as  the  slayer  of  the  enmity.     But,  to  come  to  the  argument 

Vol.  IV.         ^  16 


122  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY's 

would  Mr.  T.  think  me  in  earnest,  if  I  attempted  to  prove  that  a 
stone  had  [once]  the  advantage  of  him,  with  respect  to  getting  learn- 
ing, and  that  there  was  more  omnipotence  required  to  make  him  a 
scholar,  than  to  make  the  stone  he  stands  upon  fit  to  take  a  degree 
in  the  university?  However,  I  shall  attempt  to  do  it :  displaying  my 
skill  in  orthodox  logic,  I  personate  the  schoolmaster  who  taught  Mr 
Toplady  grammar,  and  probably  found  him  once  at  play,  when  he 
should  have  been  at  his  book,  and  I  say,  "  Indeed,  master,  a  stone  has 
the  advantage  of  you.  A  boy's  playful  heart  is  by  nature,  so  far  as 
grammar  is  concerned,  more  intractable  and  unyielding  than  a  stone 
its<=lf." — [Nox<o  for  the  proof  t^  "  1  may  take  up  a  stone,  and  throw 
it  this  way  or  that,  and  it  instantly,  and  without  the  least  degree 
of  resistance,  obeys  the  impulse  of  my  arm  :  whereas  you  resist  my 
orders,  you  run  away  from  your  book,  or  you  look  off  from  it.  In 
your  playful  heart  there  is  every  species  of  hatred  and  opposition  to 
your  Accidence ;  and  therefore  more  power  is  required  to  make  you 
a  scholar,  than  to  make  that  stone  a  grammarian."  Mr.  Toplady's 
voluntary  humility  claps  this  argument  as  excellent';  but  his  good 
sense  hisses  it  as  absurd,  and  says  with  St.  Paul,  When  I  was  a  child, 
I  spake  as  a  child :  but  when  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away  childish 
things. 

Arg.  LVII.  [p«  71.]  Ah,  but  "  God's  gracious  promise  to  renew  his 
people,  runs  in  this  remarkable  style  :  1  will  take  away  the  stony  heart 
out  of  yourjlcsh.''^ — And  does  this  prove  Calvinian  bound  zaill,  any 
more  than  these  gracious  commands  to  renew  our  own  hearts  prove 
Pelagian  free  will?  Circumcise  the  foreskin  of  your  heart,  and  be  no 
more  stff-necked. — Make  you  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit ,-^Turn 
yourselves,  and  live  ye  ?  Who  does  not  see,  that  the  evangelical  union 
of  such  passages  gives  birth  to  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  assisted  free 
"mill,  which  stands  at  an  equal  distance  from  Calvinian  Necessity y  and 
.from  Pelagian,  self-si>fficient  exertion  ? 

Arg.  LVllI.  [p.  73.]  But,  God  "  workcth  ALL  things  according  to  the 
counsel  of  his  own  will.  Eph.  i.  1 1." — By  putting  the  word  ALL  in  very 
large  capitals,  Mr.  T.  seems  willing  to  insinuate,  that  God's  decree 
causes  all  things ;  and  of  consequence,  that  God  absolutely  works  the 
good  actions  of  the  righteous,  and  the  bad  deeds  of  the  wicked. 
Whereas  the  apostle  means  only,  that  all  the  things  which  God  works, 
he  works  them  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  own  most  wise,  gracious, 
and  righteous  will.  But  the  things  which  God  works  are,  in  many 
cases,  as  different  from  the  things  which  we  work,  as  light  is  different 
from  darkness.  This  passage,  therefore,  does  not  prove  Calvinian 
Xerefsitv :  for  when  God  made  man,  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  orvr, 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  123 

-joiU^he  made  him  a  free  agent,  and  set  before  him  life  and  deaths 
bidding  him  choose  life.  Now,  to  include  Adam's  eating  of  the  for- 
bidden fruit,  and  choosing  death,  among  the  things  zi'hich  God  worketh, 
is  to  turn  Manichee  with  a  witness  :  it  is  to  confound  Christ  and 
Belial ;  the  acts  of  God,  and  the  deeds  of  sinners.  It  is  to  suppose 
[horrible  to  think!]  that  God  will  stnd  the  reprobates  to  hell  for  his 
own  deeds,  or  if  you  please,  for  what  he  has  absolutely  wrought  in 
them  and  by  them,  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  own  necessitating  will. 
This  dreadful  doctrine  is  that  capital  part  of  Calvinism  which  is  called 
Absolute  Predestination  to  death.  If  Mr.  T.  denies  that  it  is  the  second 
pillar  of  his  doctrine  of  grace,  he  may  turn  to  Sect.  II.  where  he  will 
find  his  peculiar  Gospel  '*  upon  its  legs.''^  • 

I  hope  I  need  say  no  more  upon  this  head,  to  convince  the  unpre- 
judiced  reader,  that  Mr.  T.'s  arguments  in  favour  of  Calvinian  neces- 
sity are  frivolous  ;  and  that  Mr.  Wesley  advances  a  glaring  truth, 
when  he  asserts,  that  on  the  principle  of  absolute  predestination,  there 
can  be  no  future  judgment  [upon  any  known  principle  of  wisdom, 
equity,  and  justice  :]  and  that  it  requires  more  pains  than  all  rational 
creatures  will  be  ever  able  to  take,  to  reconcile  the  doctrine  of 
[Calvinian]  reprobation  with  the  doctrine  of  a  judgment-day. 

SECTION  VIII. 

Jin  Answer  to  the  Argument  taken  from  God^s  Prescience,  whereby 
Mr.  Toplady  tries  to  prove,  that  the  very  cruelty  which  Mr. 
Wesley  charges  on  Calvinism,  is  really  chargeable  on  the  Doctrine 
of  General  Grace. 

Mr.  Toplady  is  a  spirited  writer.  He  not  only  tries  to  reconcile 
Calvinian  reprobation  with  divine  mercy,  but  he  attempts  to  retort 
upon  us  the  charge  of  holding  a  cruel  doctrine. 

Arg.  LIX.  [page  47.]  "  But  what,  if  after  all,  that  very  cruelty 
which  Mr.  Wesley  pretends  to  charge  on  Calvinism,  be  found  really 
chargeable  on  Arminianism  ?  I  pledge  myself  to  prove  this — before 
I  conclude  this  tract." — And  accordingly  [pp.  86,  87.]  Mr.  Toplady, 
after  observing,  in  his  way,  that  according  to  Mr.  Wesley's  doctrine, 
God  oflfers  his  grace  to  many  who  put  it  from  them,  and  gives  it  to 
many  who  receiveit  invain,  and  who,  on  this  account,  are  condemned  ; 
Mr.  Toplady,  I  say,  sums  up  his  argument  in  these  words  :  "  If  God 
knows  that  the  offered  grace  will  be  rejected  ;  'twould  be  mercy  to 
forbear  the  offer.     Prove  the  contrary  if  you  are  able.*' 


124  ANS\\^ER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY^S 

I  have  answered  this  objection  at  largCy  Scripture  Scales,  Vol.  iii. 
Sect.  vi.  However,  I  shall  say  something  upon  it  here.  1.  God's 
perfections  shine  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  eclipse  one  another. 
Wisdom,  justice,  mercy,  and  truth,  are  the  adorable  and  well-pro- 
portioned features  of  God's  moraZ /ace,  if  I  may  venture  upon  that 
expression.  Now,  if  in  order  to  magnify  his  mercy,  I  thrust  out  his 
wisdom  and  justice^  as  I  should  do  if  I  held  a  lawless  Calvinian 
election  ; — or,  if  in  order  to  magnify  his  justice,  I  thrust  out  his  mercy 
and  wisdom,  as  I  should  do  if  I  consistently  held  Calvinian  reproba- 
tion ;  should  I  not  disfigure  God's  moral  face,  as  much  as  I  should 
spoil  Mr.  Toplady's  natural  face,  if  I  swelled  his  eyes  or  cheeks  to 
such  a*degree,  as  to  leave  absolutely  no  room  for  his  other  features  ? 
The  Calvinists  forget  that  as  human  beauty  does  net  consist  in  the 
monstrous  bigness  of  one  or  two  features,  but  in  the  harmonious  and 
symmetrical  proportion  of  all ;  so  divine  glory  does  not  consist  in 
displaying  a  mercy  and  a  justice,  which  would  absolutely  swallow  up 
each  other,  together  with  wisdom,  holiness,  and  truth.  This  would, 
however,  be  the  case,  if  God,  after  having  wisely  decreed  to  make 
free  agents,  in  order  to  display  his  holiness,  justice,  and  truth,  by 
judging  them  according  to  their  works,  necessitated  them  to  be  good  or 
wicked,  by  decrees  of  absolute  predestination  to  life  and  heaven,  or 
of  absolute  reprobation  to  hell  and  damnation. 

2.  Do  but  allow,  that  God  made  rational  creatures  in  order  to  rule 
them  as  rational,  namely,  by  laws  adapted  to  their  nature  ; — do  but 
admit  this  truth,  I  say,  which  stands  or  falls  with  the  Bible  ;  and  it 
necessarily  follows,  that  such  creatures  were  made  with  an  eye  to  a 
day  of  judgment ;  and  the  moment  this  is  granted,  Mr.  Toplady's 
argument  vanishes  into  smoke.  For,  supposing  that  God  had  dis- 
played more  mercy  towards  those  who  die  in  their  sins,  by  forbearing 
to  give  them  grace,  and  to  offer  them  more  grace  ; — or,  in  other 
words,  supposing  that  God  had  shown  the  wicked  more  mercy,  by 
showing  them  no  mercy  at  all  [which,  by  the  by,  is  a  contradiction  in 
terms  ;]  yet,  such  a  merciless  mercy  [if  I  may  use  the  expression] 
would  have  blackened  his  wisdom,  overthrown  his  truth,  and  destroyed 
his  justice.  What  a  poor  figure,  for  instance,  would  his  justice  have 
made  among  his  other  attributes,  if  he  had  said,  that  he  would  judi- 
cially cast  his  unprofitable  servants  into  outer  darkness,  for  burying  a 
talent  which  they  neve"  had,  or  for  not  receiving  a  Saviour  who  was 
alway*  kept  from  thsm  ?  And  what  rationals  would  not  have  won- 
dered at  a  governor,  who,  after  having  made  moral  agents  in  order  to 
rule  them  according  to  their  free  nature,  and  to  judge  them  in  righte- 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  DECREES.  i25 

ousness  according  to  their  works,  should  nevertheless  show  himself. — 
1.  So  inconsistent,  as  to  rule  them  by  efficacious  decrees,  which  should 
absolutely  necessitate  some  of  theoi  to  work  iniquity  ;  and  others  to 
work  righteousness  ;  2.  So  unjust,  as  to  judge  them  according  to  the 
works  which  his  own  binding  decrees  had  necessitated  them  to  do  : 
and  3.  So  cruel  and  unwise,  as  to  punish  them  with  eternal  death, 
according  to  a  sentence  of  absolute  reprobation  to  death,  or  of  absolute 
election  to  life,  which  he  passed  beforehand,  without  any  respect  to 
their  works,  thousands  of  years  before  most  of  them  were  born  ?  By 
what  art  could  so  strange  a  conduct  have  been  reconciled  with  the 
titles  o(  Lawgiver,  and  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  which  God  assumes  ;  or 
with  his  repeated  declarations,  that  justice  and  equity  are  the  l!)asis  of 
his  throne  ;  and  that,  in  point  of  judgment,  his  ways  are  perfectly 
equal  ? 

If  Mr.  T.  should  try  to  vindicate  so  strange  a  proceeding,  by 
tsaying,  that  God  could  justly  reprobate  to  eternal  death  myriads  of 
unborn  infants  for  the  sin  of  Adam;  would  he  not  make  a  bad  matter 
worse  ;  since,  upon  the  plan  of  the  absolute  predestination  of  all 
events,  Adam's  sin  was  necessarily  brought  about  by  the  decree  of  the 
means,  which  decree,  if  Calvinism  be  true,  God  made  in  order  to 
secure  and  accomplish  the  two  grand  decrees  of  the  end,  namely,  the 
eternal  decree  of  finished  damnation  by  Adam,  and  the  eternal  decree 
of  finished  salvation  by  Christ  ? 

The  absurdity  of  Mr.  Toplady's  argument  may  be  placed  in  a 
clearer  light  by  an  illustration.  The  king,  to  display  his  royal 
benevolence,  equity,  and  justice  ;  to  maintain  good  order  in  his  army, 
and  excite  his  troopers  to  military  diligence,  promises  to  give  a  reward 
to  all  the  men  of  a  regiment  of  light-horse  who  shall  ride  so  many 
miles  without  dismounting  to  plunder  :  and  he  engages  himself  to 
punish  severely  those  who  shall  be  guilty  of  that  offence.  He  fore- 
sees, indeed,  that  many  will  slight  his  offered  rewards,  and  incur  his 
threatened  punishment  :  nevertheless,  for  the  above-mentioned 
reasons,  he  proceeds.  Some  men  are  promoted,  and  others  are 
punished.  A  Calvinist  highly  blames  the  king's  conduct.  He  says, 
that  his  Majesty  would  have  shown  himself  more  ^rac?07<s,  and  would 
have  asserted  his  sovereignty  much  better,  if  he  had  refused  horsei 
to  the  plunderers,  and  had  punished  them  for  lighting  off  horses  whiclt 
they  never  had  :  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  it  became  his  free  grace 
to  tie  the  rewardable  dragoons  fast  to  their  saddles,  and  by  this  means 
to  necessitate  them  to  keep  on  horseback,  and  deserve  the  promised 
reward.  Would  not  such  a  conduct  have  marked  his  Majesty's 
reputation  with  the  stamp  of  disingenuity,  cruelty,  and  folly  ?    And 


126  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY's 

yet,  astonishing !  because  we  do  not  approve  of  such  a  judicial  dis- 
tribution of  the  rewards  of  eternal  Hfe,  and  the  punishments  of 
eternal  death,  Mr.  Toplady  lixes  the  charge  of  cruelty  upon  the 
Gospel  which  we  preach !     He  goes  on  : 

Arg.  LX.  [page  85.]  "  According  to  Mr.  Wesley's  own  funda- 
mental  principle  of  universal  grace ;  grace  itself,  or  the  saving  in- 
fluence of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  hearts  of  men,  does  and  mw^f  become 
the  ministration  of  eternal  death  to  thousands  and  millions.'* — [p.  89.] 
*'  Level,  therefore,  your  tragical  exclamations  about  2in mercifulness  at 
your  own  scheme,  which  truly  and  properly  deserves  them." 

The  flaw  of  this  argument  consists  in  the  words  "  does  and  must,^^ 
which  Mr.  T.  puts  in  Italics.  1.  In  the  word  does:  it  is  a  great  mis- 
take to  say,  that  upon  Mr.  W.'s  principles,  grace  itself  does  become 
the  ministration  of  eternal  death  to  any  soul.  It  is  not  for  grace,  but 
for  the  abuse  or  neglect  of  grace,  and  its  saving  hght,  that  men  are 
condemned.  This  is  the  condemnation,  says  Christ  himself,  that  light 
[the  light  of  grace]  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  love  darkness 
rather  than  light. — And  St.  Paul  adds,  that  (he  grace  of  God,  which 
bringeth  salvation,  hath  [in  difierent  degrees]  appeared  to  all  men, 
John  iii.  19.  Tit.  ii.  11.  There  is  no  medium  between  condemning 
men  for  not  using  a  talent  of  grace  which  they  had,  or  for  not  using 
a  talent  of  grace  which  they  never  had.  The  former  sentiment,  which 
is  perfectly  agreeable  to  Reason,  Scripture,  and  Conscience,  is  that 
of  Mr.  Wesley;  the  latter  sentiment,  which  contradicts  one  half  of 
the  Bible,  shocks  reason,  and  demolishes  the  doctrines  of  justice,  is 
that  of  Mr.  Toplady. 

2.  When  this  gentleman  says,  that  God's  grace,  upon  Mr.  Wesley's 
principles,  7nust  become  the  ministration  of  death  to  millions,  he 
advances  as  groundless  a  proposition  as  I  would  do,  if  I  said,  that 
the  grace  of  creation,  the  grace  of  preservation,  and  the  grace  of  a 
preached  Gospel,  absolutely  destroy  millions  ;  because  millions,  by 
wilfully  abusing  their  created  and  -preserved  powers,  or  by  neglecting 
so  great  salvation  as  the  Gospel  brings,  pull  down  upon  themselves  an 
unnecessary,  and  therefore  a  just  destruction. — 3.  We  oppose  the 
doctrine  of  Absolute  Necessity,  or  the  Calvinian  must,  as  being  insepa- 
rable from  Manicheism  :  and  we  assert,  that  there  is  no  needs  must  in 
the  eternal  death  of  any  man,  because  Christ  imparts  a  degree  of 
temporary  salvation  to  all,  with  power  to  obey,  and  a  promise  to  bestow 
eternal  salvation  upon  all  that  will  obey.  How  ungenerous  is  it  then, 
to  charge  upon  us  the  very  doctrine  which  we  detest,  when  it  has  no 
necessary  connexion  with  any  of  our  principles !  How  irrational  to 
say,  that  if  our  doctrine  of  grace  be  true,  God's  grace  must  become 


VINDICATION  OF  THE  DECREES.  127 

the  ministration  of  death  to  milhons  ! — Ten  men  have  a  mortal  disor- 
iler :  a  physician  prepares  a  sovereign  remedy  for  them  all :  tive 
take  it  properly  and  recover,  and  tive,  who  will  not  follow  his  pre- 
scriptions, die  of  their  disorder  :  now,  who  but  a  prejudiced  person 
would  infer  from  thence,  that  the  physician's  sovereign  remedy  is 
become  the  ministration  of  death  to  the  patients  who  die,  because  they 
would  not  take  it  ?  Is  it  right  thus  to  confound  a  remedy  with  the 
obstinate  neglect  of  it  ?  A  man  ■wilfully  starves  himself  to  death  with 
good  food  before  him.  I  say  that  his  ■wilfulness  is  the  cause  of  his 
death  :  no,  replies  a  decretist,  it  is  the  good  food  which  you  desire 
him  to  take.  This  absurd  conclusion  is  all  of  a  piece  with  that  of 
Mr.  Toplady. 

Arg.  LXl.  [p.  89.]  "  The  Arminian  system  reprpspntf?  thp  Father 
of  mercies  as  offering  grace  to  them,  who  he  knows  will  only  add  sin 
to  sin,  and  make  themselves  twofold  more  the  children  of  hell  by 
refusing  it." — Indeed  it  is  not  the  Arminian  system  only,  that  says  this  : 
1.  All  the  Calvi7iists,  who  allow  that  God  gave  angelic  grace  to  angels, 
though  he  knew  that  many  of  them  would  fall  from  that  grace, 
and  would  fall  deeper,  than  if  they  had  fallen  from  a  less  exalted  sta- 
tion :  — 2.  Jesus  Christ,  who  gave  Judas  the  grace  of  apostleship,  and 
represents  God  as  giving  a  pound  to  his  servants  who  squander  it,  as 
well  as  to  those  who  use  it  properly  : — And,  3.  Mr.  Toplady  himself, 
who  [notwithstanding  his  pretended  horror  for  so  scriptural  a  doctrine] 
dares  not  deny,  that  God  gave  the  grace  of  creation  to  those  who 
shall  perish.  Now  the  grace  of  creation  implies  spotless  holiness  ; 
and  if  God  could  once  graciously  give  spotless  holiness  to  Judas  in  the 
loins  of  Adam,  why  could  he  not  graciously  restore  to  that  apostle  a 
degree  of  free  agency  to  good,  that  he  might  be  judged  according  to 
his  own  works,  and  not  according  to  Calvinian  decrees  of  finished 
wickedness,  and  finished  damnation  in  Adam  ?  But, — 4.  What  is  still 
more  surprising,  Mr.  T.  himself  [p.  51.]  quotes  these  %\'ords,  which 
so  abundantly  decide  the  question  :  Thou  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted 
unto  heaven  [by  the  peculiar  flavours  and  Gospel  privileges  bestowed 
upon  thee]  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell:  for  if  the  mighty  works  which 
have  been  done  in  thee,  had  been  done  in  Sodom,  it  would  have  remained 
unto  this  day.  Matt.  xi.  23.  Now  I  ask,  Why  were  these  mighty  works 
done  in  Capernaum  ?  Was  it  out  of  love — to  bring  Capernaum  to 
repentance  ?  Or  was  it  out  of  wrath — -that  it  might  be  more  tolerable 
in  the  day  of  judgment  for  Sodom  than  Capernaum?  There  is  no 
medium  :  Mr.  Toplady  must  recant  this  part  of  the  Bible,  and  of  his 
book ;  or  he  must  answer  one  of  these  two  questions  in  the  affirma- 
tive.    If  he  say  [as  we  do]  that  these  mighty  works,  which  might  have 


128  ANSWER  TO  MR.  TOPLADY^S 

converted  Tyre,  Sidon,  and  Sodom,  were  primarily  wrought  to  bring 
Capernaum  to  repentance,  he  gives  up  Calvinism,  which  stands  or  falls 
with  the  doctrine  of  necessitating  means  used  in  order  to  bring  about  a 
necessary  end.  If  he  say  [as  Calvinism  does]  that  these  mighty  works 
were  primarily  wrought  to  sink  Capernaum  into  hell — into  a  deeper 
hell  than  Sodom,  because  the  end  always  shows  what  the  means  were 
nsed  for  ;  he  runs  upon  the  point  of  his  own  objection  ;  he  pulls 
upon  his  doctrines  of  grace  the  very  unmercifulness  which  he  charges 
upon  ours^  and  he  shows  to  every  unprejudiced  reader,  that  the  diffi- 
culty arising  from  the  Prescience  of  God,  with  which  the  Calvinists 
think  to  demolish  the  doctrine  of  general  grace,  f^Us  upon  Calvinism 
with  a  double  weight. — Mr.  Toplady  is  sensible  that  God  could  never 
have  appeared  good  and  just,  uulees  the  wicked  had  been  absolutely 
inexcusable,  and  that  they  could  never  have  been  inexcusable,  if  God 
had  condemned  them  for  burying  a  talent  of  grace  which  they  never 
had  ;  and  therefore  Mr.  T.  tries  to  overthrow  this  easy  solution  of 
the  difficulty  by  saying, 

Arg.  LXII.  [p.  88.]  "  Be  it  so,"  that  the  wicked  are  made  inexcu- 
sable by  a  day  of  grace  and  temporary  salvation,  "  yet,  surely  God 
can  never  be  thought,  knowingly  to  render  a  man  more  inexcusable, 
by  taking  such  measures  as  will  certainly  load  him  with  accumulated 
condemnation,  out  of  mere  love  to  that  man  !" — We  grant  it ;  and  there- 
fore we  assert,  that  it  is  not  out  of  mere  love  that  God  puts  us  in  a 
gracious  state  of  probation,  or  temporary  salvation;  but  out  of  "wisdom, 
truth,  and  distributive  justice,  as  well  as  out  of  mercy  and  love.  If 
God  therefore  were  endued  with  no  other  perfection  than  that  of 
merciful  love,  we  would  give  up  the  doctrine  of  judicial  reprobation  ; 
for  a  God  devoid  of  distributive  justice  could,  and  would  save  all  sin- 
ners in  the  Calvinian  way,  that  is,  with  a  salvation  perfectly  finished 
without  any  of  their  works.  But  then,  he  would  neiiher  judge  them, 
nor  bestow  eternal  salvation  upon  them  by  way  of  reward  for  their 
works,  as  the  Scriptures  say  he  will. 

Oh !  how  much  more  reasonable  and  scriptural  is  it,  to  allow  the 
doctrine  of  free  grace,  and  free  will,  established  in  the  Scripture 
scales ;  and  to  maintain  the  reprobation  of  justice — an  avoidable  repro- 
bation this,  which  is  perpetually  asserted  in  the  Gospel,  and  will 
leave  the  wicked  entirely  inexcusable,  and  God  perfectly  righteous  : 
— How  much  better  is  it,  I  say,  to  hold  such  a  reprobation,  than  to 
admit  Calvinian  reprobation,  which  renders  the  wicked  excusable  and 
pitiable,  as  being  condemned  for  doing  what  Omnipotence  necessitated 
them  to  do ; — a  reprobation  this,  which  stigmatizes  Christ  as  a 
shuffler,  for  offering  to  all  a  salvation  from  which  most  are  absolutely 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  129 

debarred  ;-~a  cruel  reprobation,  uhich  represents  the  Father  of 
mercies  as  an  unjust  Sovereign,  who  takes  such  measures  as  will 
unavoidably  load  myriads  of  unborn  men  with  accumulated  condemna- 
tion, out  o(  free  wrath  to  their  unformed  souls. 

Should  Mr.  Toplady  say,  "  That,  according  to  the  Gospel  which 
we  preach,  the  wicked  shall  certainly  be  damned  ;  and  therefore  the 
difference  between  us  is  but  trifling  after  all  j  seeing  the  Calvinists 
assert  that  some  men,  namely,  those  who  are  eternally  reprobated  by 
divine  sovereignty,  shall  certainly  and  unavoidably  be  damned  ;  and 
the  anti-calvinists  say,  that  some  men.  namely,  those  who  are  finally 
reprobated  by  divine  justice,  shall  be  certainly  though  avoidably 
damned  :" — 1  reply,  that  frivolous  as  the  difference  between  these 
two  doctrines  may  appear  to  those  who  judge  according  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  words,  it  is  as  capital  as  the  difference  between  avoidable 
ruin  and  unavoidable  destruction  ;  between  justice  and  injustice; — 
between  initial  election  diud finished  reprobation  ;  between  saying  that 
God  is  the  first  cause  of  the  damnation  of  the  wicked,  and  asserting 
that  they  are  the  first  cause  of  their  own  damnation.  In  a  word,  it  is 
as  great  as  the  difference  between  the  north  and  the  south — between 
a  Gospel  made  up  of  Antinotnian  free  grace  and  barbarianyVec  wrath^ 
and  a  Gospel  made  up  of  scriptural  free  grace,  and  impartial,  Tetn- 
hui'ive  justice. 

Upon  the  whole,  from  the  preceding  answers  it  is  evident,  if  I  am 
not  mistaken,  that  though  the  grand  Calvinian  objection  taken  from 
God's  foreknowledge  may,  at  first  sight,  puzzle  the  simple  ;  yet  it  can 
bear  neither  the  light  of  Scripture  nor  that  of  reason  ;  and  it  recoils 
upon  Calvinism  with  all  the  force  with  which  it  is  supposed  to  attack 
7he  saving  grace  which  has  appeared  to  all  men. 


SECTION  IX. 


An  Answer  to  the  charges  of  robbing  the  Trinity,  and  encouraging 
Deism,  which  charges  Air.  T,  brings  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Anti- 
Calvinists. 

Mr.  T.  thinks  his  cause  so  good,  that  he  supposes  himself  able  not 
only  to  stand  on  the  defensive  ;  but  alsolo  attack  the  Gospel  which 
we  preach.  From  his  Babel,  therefore,  [his  strong  tower  of  confusioni 
he  makes  a  bold  sally,  and  charges  us  thus  : 

Arc.  LXIII.  [p.  01.]  "  Arminianism  robs  the  Father  of  his  Sove- 
reignty.^'' — This  is  a  mistake  ;  Arminianism  dares  not  attribute  to  him 

Vol.  IV.  17 


130  ANSWER    TO    MB.    TOPLADY'S 

the  grifn  sovereignty  of  a  Nero  ;  but  if  it  does  not  humbly  allow  hiii» 
aJI  the  sovereignty  which  Scripture  and  reason  ascribe  to  him,  so  far 
it  is  wrong,  and  so  far  we  oppose  Pelagian  Arminianism  as  well  as 
Manichean  Calvinism. — It  "  robs  the  Father  of  his  decrees:''^ — This  is 
a  mistake  :  it  reverences  all  his  righteous,  scriptural  decrees  ;  though 
it  shudders  at  the  thought  of  imputing  to  him  unscriptural,  Calvinian 
decrees,  more  wicked  and  absurd  than  the  decrees  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar and  Darius.— It  "  robs  the  Father  of  his  providence  :''^ — Another 
mistake  !  Our  doctrine  only  refuses  to  make  God  the  author  of  sin, 
and  to  lead  men  to  the  Pagan  error  of  fatalism,  or  to  the  Manichean 
error  of  a  two- principled  god,  who  absolutely  works  all  things  in  all 
men,  as  a  showman  works  all  things  in  his  puppets  :  fixing  necessary 
virtue  on  the  good,  and  necessary  wickedness  on  the  wicked,  to  the 
subversion  of  all  the  divine  perfections,  and  to  the  entire  overthrow 
of  the  second  Gospel  axiom,  of  Christ's  tribunal,  and  of  the  wisdom 
and  justice,  which  the  Scriptures  ascribe  to  God,  as  Judge  of  the  whole 
earth. 

Arc.  LXIV.  [Ibid.]  "  It  [Arminianism]  robs  the  Son  of  his  efficacy 
as  a  Saviour.''^ — Another  mistake  !  It  only  dares  not  pour  upon  him 
the  shame  of  being  the  Absolute  Reprobater  of  myriads  of  unborn 
creatures,  whose  nature  he  assumed  with  a  gracious  design  to  be 
absolutely  their  temporary  Saviour  ;  promising  to  prove  their  eternal 
Saviour  upon  Gospel  terms  :  and  accordingly,  he  saves  all  mankind 
with  a  temporary  salvation ;  and  those  who  obey  him  with  an  eternal 
salvation.  The  efficacy  of  his  blood  is  then  complete,  so  far  as  he 
absolutely  designed  it  should  be. 

Arg.  LXV.  [Ibid.]  '^  It  [Arminianism]  robs  the  Spirit  of  his  efficacy 
as  a  Sanctifer.''^  By  no  means  :  for  it  maintains,  that  the  Spirit, 
which  is  the  grace  and  light  of  Christ,  enlightens  every  man  that  comes 
into  the  world,  and  leads  the  worst  of  men  to  some  temporary  good, 
or  at  least  restrains  them  from  the  commission  of  a  thousand  crimes. 
So  far  the  Spirit's  grace  is  efficacious  in  all;  and,  if  it  is  not  completely 
and  eternally  efficacious  in  those  who  harden  their  hearts,  and  by  their 
wilful  hardness  treasure  up  unto'  themselves  wrath  against  the  day  of 
wrath, —  it  is  because  the  day  of  wrath,  for  which  the  wicked  were 
secondarily'^  made,  is  to  be  the  day  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God, 


^  All  arkgeh  aud  men  were  primttribj  made  to  enjoy  an  accepted  time,  and  a  temporarr 
^ay  of  salvation.  Those  angels  and  men,  who  know  and  improve  their  day  of  salvation? 
were  secondarily  made  for  the  day  of  remunerative  love,  and  for  a  kingdom  prepared  for 
Ihem  from  the  beginning  of  the  ivorld.  But  those  angels  and  men  who  do  not  know  and 
improve  their  day  of  salvation,  were  secondaHly  made  for  the  day  of  refrihiilive  wrath. 
^m\  for  the  fire  preparcdfor  the  devil  and  his  angels. 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  131 

who  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds.  Rotn.  ii.  5,  6. 
and  not  the  day  of  the  MnWo-/ifco«s  judgment  of  Calvin,  who  (doctrin- 
ally)  renders  to  every  man  according  to  njiuished  salvation  in  Christ, 
productive  of  necessary  goodness  ;  and  according  to  a  finished  dam- 
nation in  Adam,  productive  of  remediless  wickedness,  and  all  its 
dreadful   consequences. 

Arg.  LXVl.  [p.  92.]  Mr.  Toplady  produces  a  long  quotation  from 
Mr.  SlosSy  which,  being  divested  of  the  verbose  dress  in  which  errof 
generally  appears,  amounts  to  this  plain  abridged  argument.  "  If 
the  doctrine  of  Calvinian  election  be  false,  because  all  mankind  are 
not  the  objects  of  that  election,  and  because  all  men  have  an  equal 
right  to  the  divine  favour  ;  it  follows  that  Infidels  are  right  when 
they  say,  that  the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  revelations  are  false  ;  for 
all  mankind  are  not  elected  to  the  favour  of  having  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  :  and  therefore  Arminianism  encourages  Infidelity." 

This  argument  is  good  to  convince  Pelagian  levellers,  that  God  is 
partial  in  the  distribution  of  his  talents,  and  that  he  indulges  Jews 
and  Christians  with  a  holy,  peculiar  election  and  calling,  of  which 
those  who  never  heard  of  the  Bible  are  utterly  deprived.  I  have 
myself  made  this  remark  in  the  Essay  on  the  gratuitous  election  and 
partial  reprobation  which  St.  Paul  frequently  preaches :  but  the 
argument  does  not  affect  o?^r  anti-calvinian  Gospel.  For,  I.  ^'e  do 
not  say,  that  Calvinian  election  is  false,  because  it  supposes  that  God 
is  peculiarly  gracious  to  some  men  ;  for  this  we  strongly  assert  as  well 
as  the  Calvinists  ;  but  because  it  supposes  that  God  is  so  peculiarly 
gracious  to  some  men  as  to  be  absolutely  merciless  and  unjust  to  all  the 
rest  of  mankind. 

2.  That  very  revelation  which  Mr.  Sloss  thinks  we  betray  to  the 
Deists,  informs  us,  that  though  all  men  are  not  indulged  with  the  pccu- 
/«ar blessings  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  yet  they  are  all  chosen  and 
called  to  be  righteous,  at  least  according  to  the  covenants  made  with 
fallen  Adam,  and  spared  Noah.  Hence  St.  Peter  says,  that,  In  every 
nation  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness  [according  to  his 
light,  though  it  should  be  only  the  lowest  degree  of  that  light  which 
enlightens  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world]  is  accepted  of  him : 
and  St.  Paul  speaks  of  some  Gentiles  who,  though  they  have  not  the  law 
of  Moses  or  the  law  of  Christ,  do  by  nature  [in  its  slate  of  initial  res- 
toration through  the  seed  of  life  given  to  fallen  Adam  in  the  promise] 
the  things  contained  in  the  law,  and  are  a  law  unto  themselves;  showing 
the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts.  Therefore,  though  there 
is  a  gratuitous  election,  which  draws  after  it  a  gratuitous  reprobation 
from  the  blessings  peculiar  to  Judaism  and  Christianity ;  there  is  no 


132  ANSWER    TO   MR.    TOPLADY'^ 

Calvinian  election,  which  draws  after  it  a  gratuitous  reprobation  iVoin 
all  saving  grace,  and  necessarily  involves  the  greatest  part  of  mankind 
m  unavoidable  d^?Lmi\^{\on.  Hence,  if  I  mistake  not,  it  appears  that 
when  Mr.  Sloss  charges  us  with  "  having  contributed  to  the  prevail- 
ing Deism  of  the  present  time,  by  furnishing  the  adversaries  of 
Divine  Revelation  with  arguments  against  Christianity,"  he  [as  well 
as  Mr.  Toplady]  gratuitously  imputes  to  our  doctrine  what  really 
belongs  to  Calvinism.  For  there  is  a  perfect  agreement  between  the 
absolute  necessity  of  events,  which  is  asserted  by  Calvinian  bound 
xmllers;  and  that  which  is  maintained  by  Deistical  fatalists :  and  it  is 
well  known,  that  the  horrors  of  the  absolute  reprobation  which  the 
Calvinists  fancy  they  see  in  Rom.  ix.  have  tempted  many  Moralists, 
who  read  that  chapter  with  the  reprobating  glosses  of  Calvin  and  his 
followers,  to  bid  adieu  to  Revelation  ;  it  being  impossible  that  a 
scheme  of  doctrine,  which  represents  God  as  the  absolute  Reprobater 
of  myriads  of  unborn  infants,  should  have  the  Parent  of  good,  and 
the  God  of  love,  for  its  author. 

SECTION  X. 

An  Answer  to  the  Arguments  by  which  Mr.  Toplady  attempts  to  retort 
•  .    the  charge  of  Antinomian[sm,  and  to  show  that  Calvinism  is  more 
conducive  to  Holiness  than  the  opposite  Doctrine. 

Mr.  Hill  asserts,  that  Mr.  T.  retorts  all  our  objections  upon  us  in  a 
most  masterly  manner.  Let  us  see  how  he  retorts  the  objection 
which  we  make  to  absolute  predestination — a  doctrine  this,  by  which 
necessary  hofiness  is  imposed  upon  the  electa  and  necessary  wickedness 
upon  the  reprobates:  how  the  fixing  unavoidable  holiness  upon  a 
minority,  and  unavoidable  wickedness  upon  a  majority  of  mankind,  is 
reconcileable  uith  the  glory  of  Divine  Holiness,  Mr.  Toplady  informs 
us  in  the  following  argument. 

Arg  LXVII.  [page  93,  94.]  Calvinian*  "Election  ensures  holiness 
to  a  very  great  part  of  mankind  :  whereas  precarious  grace,  deriving 

*  The  author  of  A  I^efter  to  an  Arminian  Teacher  [a  letter  this,  which  I  have  quoted 
ta  a  preceding  note,]  advances  the  same  argument  in  these  words,  p.  5.  "  The  doctrine  of 
eternal  [he  means  Calvinian]  election,"  for  we  believe  the  right,  godly,  eternal  election, 
tnaintained  in  the  Scriptures,  "  concludes  God  more  merciful  than  the  Arminian  doctrine 
of  supposed  universal  redemption,  because  that  doctrine  which  absolutely  ascertains  the 
regeneration,  eficctual  calling,  the  sanctification,  &c.  as  well  as  the  eternal  salvation  of 
an  innumerable  company,  &c.  Rev.  vii.  9.  must  represent  God  more  merciful  than  the 
Arminian  scheme,  which  cannot  ascertain  the  eternal  salvation  of  one  man  now  living,"  &c. 
As  it  is  possible  to  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone,  1  hope  that  my  answer  (o  Mr.  Topladv 
••ViU  satisfv  Mr.  M'GowaiT. 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  133 

all  its  eflficacy  from  the  caprice  of  free  will,  could  not  ensure  holiness 
to  any  one  individual  of  the  whole  species.-' — Had  Mr.  T.  stated  the 
case  properly,  he  would  have  said,  "  Calvinian  election,  which 
ensures  necessary  holiness  to  a  minority  of  mankind  ;  and  Calvinian 
reprobation,  which  ensures  necessary  wickedness  to  a  majority  of  man- 
kind, promote  human  sanctity  more  than  the  partial  election  of  grace^ 
which  formerly  afforded  the  Jews,  and  now  affords  the  Christians, 
abundant  helps  to  be  peculiarly  holy  under  their  dispensations  of 
peculiar  grace  : — yea,  more  than  the  impartial  election  of  justice, 
which  under  all  the  dispensations  of  divine  grace,  chooses  the  man  that 
is  godly,  to  rewards  of  grace  and  glory  ; — and  more  than  the  reproba- 
tion of  justice,  which  is  extended  to  none  but  such  as  bury  their  talent 
of  grace,  by  wilful  unbelief  and  voluntary  disobedience. 

If  Mr.  T.  had  thus  stated  the  case,  according  to  his  real  sentiments 
and  ours,  every  candid  reader  would  have  seen  that  our  doctrines  of 
grace  are  far  more  conducive  to  human  sanctity  than  those  of  Calvin  : 
1.  Because  Calvinism  ensures  human  sanctity  to  none  of  the  elect: 
for  a  sanctity  which  is  as  necessary  to  a  creature  as  motion  is  to  a 
moved  puppet,  is  not  the  sanctity  of  ?{ free  agent ;  and,  of  conse- 
quence, it  is  not  human  sanctity  :  2.  Because  Calvinism  ensures  reme- 
diless wickedness  to  all  the  reprobate,  and  remediless  wickedness  can 
never  be  "  human  sanctity.''^ 

With  respect  to  what  Mr.  T.  says,  that  our  doctrines  of  grace  do 
^^  not  ensure  holiness  to  any  one  individual  of  the  whole  species  ;^^  if  by 
*'  ensured  holiness,''''  he  means  a  certain  salvation  without  <iny  work  of 
faith,  and  labour  of  love,  he  is  greatly  mistaken  :  for  our  Gospel 
absolutely  ensures  such  a  salvation,  and  of  consequence  it}0nt  holiness, 
to  that  numerous  part  of  mankind  who  die  in  their  infancy.  Nay,  it 
absolutely  ensures  a  seed  of  redeeming,  sanctifying  grace  to  all  man- 
kind, so  long  as  the  day  of  grace  or  initial  salvation  lasts  ;  for  we 
maintain,  as  well  as  St.  Paul,  that  the  free  gift  is  come  upon  all  men  to 
justification  of  life^  Rom.  v.  18.  :  and  we  assert,  as  well  as  our  Lord, 
that  of  such  [of  infants]  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  therefore  some 
capacity  to  enjoy  it,  which  capacity  we  believe  to  be  inseparably  con- 
nected with  a  seed  of  holiness.  Add  to  this,  that  our  Gospel  as  well 
as  Calvinism,  ensures  eternal  salvation  to  all  the  adult  who  are  faithful 
unto  death.  According  to  our  doctrine  these  sheep  shall  never  perish: 
to  these  elect  of  justice,  who  make  their  election  of  grace  sure  by 
obedience,  Christ  gives  eternal  life  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word  : 
and  none  shall  pluck  them  out  of  his  hand.  If  Mr.  T.  had  placed  our 
Gospel  in  this  true  light,  his  objection  would  have  appeared  as  just  as 
the  rodomontade  of  Goliath  when  he  was  going  to  despatch  David. 


134  ANSWER   TO   MR.   TOPLADy's 

Aro.  LXVIIl.  [p.  94.]  Mr.  T.  tries  to  make  up  the  Antinomian 
gap,  by  doing  that  which  borders  upon  giving  up  Calvinism.  *'  No 
man  [says  he]  according  to  our  system,  has  a  right  to  look  upon  him- 
self as  elected,  till  sanctifying  grace  has  converted  him  to  faith  and 
good  works." 

This  flimsy  salvo  has  quieted  the  fears  of  many  godly  Calvinists, 
when  the  Antinomianism  of  their  system  stared  them  in  the  face. 
To  show  the  absurdity  of  this  evasion,  I  need  only  ask,  has  not  every 
man  a  right  to  believe  the  truth  ?  If  I  am  absolutely  elected  to  eter- 
nal life,  while  I  commit  adultery  and  murder,  while  I  defile  my 
father's  wife,  and  deny  my  Saviour  with  oaths  and  curses ;  why  may 
not  I  believe  it  ?  Is  there  one  sentence  of  Scripture  which  com- 
mands me  to  believe  a  lie,  or  forbids  me  to  believe  the  truth  ? — "  O, 
but  you  have  no  right  to  believe  yourself  elected,  till  sanctifying 
grace  has  converted  you  to  faith  and  good  works."  Then  it  follows, 
that  as  an  adult  sinner,  I  am  not  elected  to  the  reward  of  the  inherit- 
ance, or  to  eternal  life  in  glory,  till  I  believe  and  do  good  works  ;  or 
it  follows  that  I  have  no  right  to  believe  the  truth.  If  Mr.  T.  aflirm, 
that  I  have  no  right  to  beheve  the  truth,  he  makes  himself  ridiculous 
before  all  the  world  :  and  if  he  say,  that  I  am  not  absolutely  elected, 
till  I  am  converted  to  faith  and  good  works;  it  follows,  that  every  time 
I  am  perverted  from  faith  and  good  works,  I  forfeit  my  election  of 
justice.  Thus,  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  T.  himself,  I  escape  the 
fatal  rock  of  Calvinian  election,  and  find  myself  in  the  safe  harbour 
of  old,  practical  Christianity  :  Ye  know  that  no  whoremonger,  nor 
unclean  person,  nor  covetous  man,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  dSnd  of  God :  Let  no  man  deceive  you  with  vain  words.  For 
if  I  have  no  right  to  believe  myself  an  heir  of  God,  and  a  joint-heir 
with  Christ,  while  I  turn  whoremonger  ;  it  is  evident  that  whoredom 
deprives  me  of  my  right : — much  more  adultery  and  murder.  Hence 
it  appears  that  Mr.  T.  cannot  prop  up  the  Calvinian  ark,  but  by  flatly 
contradicting  Paul,  which  is  a  piece  of  impiety;  and  by  asserting  that 
elect  whoremongers  have  no  right  to  believe  the  truth  while  they 
commit  whoredom,  which  is  a  glaring  absurdity. 

Arg.  LXIX.  [p.  95.]  After  having  made  up  the  Antinomian  gap, 
by  giving  up  either  Calvinian  election,  or  the  incontestable  right 
which  every  man  has  to  believe  the  truth,  Mr.  Toplady  tries  to  retort 
the  charge  of  Antinomianism  upon  our  doctrines  of  grace :  and  he 
does  it  by  producing  one  *' Thomson,  who,  when  he  zms  in  a  Jit  of 
intemperance,  if  any  one  reminded  him  of  the  wrath  of  God  threatened 
against  such  courses,  would  answer,  I  am  a  child  of  the  devil  to-day;  but 
1  have  free  will:  and  to-morrow  I  will  make  myself  a  child  of  God.'' ^ 


VINDICATION  OP  THE  DECREES.  135 

To  this  I  answer,  1.  The  man  spoke  like  a  person  *'  in  a  Jit  of 
intemperance y^  and  there  is  no  reasoning  with  such,  any  nnore  than 
with  mad  men.  But  Dr.  Crisp,  when  he  was  sober,  and  in  the  pul- 
pit too,  could  say,  "  A  behever  may  be  assured  of  pardon  as  soon  as 
he  commits  any  sin,  even  adultery  and  murder. — Sins  are  but  scare- 
crows and  bugbears  to  frighten  ignorant  children,  but  men  of  under- 
standing, see  they  are  counterfeit  things  :"  and  indeed  it  must  be 
so,  if,  as  Mr.  T.  tells  us,  Whatever  is,  is  rights  and  necessarily  flows 
from  the  predestinating  will  of  him  who  does  all  things  zvell. 

2.  This  Thomson  [as  appears  by  his  speech]  was  a  rigid  free 
wilier;  one  who  discarded  ihejirst  Gospel  axiom,  and  the  doctrine  of 
free  grace  ;  and  therefore,  his  error  does  not  affect  otir  Gospel.  Nay, 
we  oppose  such  free  willers,  as  much  as  we  do  the  rigid  bound  willers^ 
who  discard  the  second  Gospel  axiom,  and  the  necessity  of  sincere 
obedience  in  order  to  our  judicial  justification,  and  eternal  salvation. 

3.  If  Thomson  had  been  sober  and  reasonable,  Mr.  Wesley  might 
easily  have  made  up  the  pretended  Antinomian  gap  of  Arminianism 
five  different  ways  : — 1.  By  showing  him,  that  although  free  will  may 
reject  a  good  motion,  yet  it  cannot  raise  one  without  free  grace  ;  and 
therefore  to  say,  *'  To-morrow  Iwill  make  myself  a  child  of  God,''''  is 
as  absurd  in  a  man,  as  it  would  be  in  a  woman  to  say,  To-morrow  I 
will  conceive  alone : — it  is  as  impious  as  to  say.  To-morrow  I  will 
absolutely  command  God,  and  he  shall  obey  me. — 2.  By  showing  him 
his  imminent  danger,  and  the  horror  of  his  present  state,  which  he 
himself  acknowledged  when  he  said,  '■'  I  am  a  child  of  the  devil  to- 
day.'''— 3.  By  urging  the  uncertain  length  of  the  day  of  salvation. 
Grace  gives  us  no  room  to  depend  upon  to-morrow ;  its  constant  lan- 
guage being,  Now  is  the  accepted  time. — 4.  By  pressing  the  hardening 
nature  of  presun^tuous  sin.— And  5.  By  displaying  the  terrors  of 
just  wrath,  which  frequently  says.  Take  the  talent  from  him. — Because 
ye  refused,  I  will  be  avenged.  I  give  thee  up  to  thy  own  hearfs  lust,  to 
a  reprobate  mind — Thou  fool!  this  night  shall  thy  soul  be  required  of 
thee. 

These  Qvefive  rational  and  scriptural  ways  of  making  up  the  sup- 
posed Antinomian  gap  of  our  Gospel.  But  if  Mr.  Thomson  had  been 
a  Calvinist,  and  had  said  like  Mr.  Fulsome,  '♦  1  have  had  a  call,  and  my 
election  is  safe  :  as  my  good  works  can  add  no^ihing  to  my  finished  sal- 
vation, so  my  bad  words  can  take  nothing  from  it.  Satan  may  pound 
me,  if  he  please  ;  but  Jesus  must  replevy  me.  Let  me  wander 
where  I  will  from  God,  Christ  must  fetch  me  back  again.  The  cove- 
nant is  vnconditionally  ordered  in  all  things   and  sure.     All  thino-s 


136  ANSWER  TO  MR.  TOFLADY's 

must  work  for  good  to  the  elect."     "  And  if  all  things,''   [says  Mr 
Hill]  "  then  their  very  sins  and  corruptions  are  included  in  the  royal 
promise.^'' 

"  Whoredom  and  drunkenness  may  hurt  another,  but  they  cannot 
hurt  me.  God  will  overrule  sin  for  my  good,  and  his  glory  :  What- 
ever is,  is  right :  for  God  worketh  all  things  in  all  men,  even  wicked- 
ness in  the  wicked,  and  how  much  more  in  his  elect,  who  are  his 
chosen  instruments!" — If  Mr.  Thomson,  I  say,  had  been  a  Calvinist, 
and  had  thus  stood  his  ground  in  the  Antinomian  gap  which  Calvin,  Dr. , 
Crisp,  Mr.  Fulsome,  Blr.  Hill,  and  Mr.  Toplady  have  made  ;  who 
could  reasonably  have  beaten  him  off?  Do  not  all  his  conclusions  flow 
from  the  doctrine  of  absolute  election  and  finished  salvation,  as  una- 
voidably as  four  is  the  result  of  two  and  two? 

Arg.  LXX.  [p.  97.]  Mr.  T.  attempts  a§ain  to  stop  up  the  Antino- 
mian gap,  which  fatalism  and  Calvinian  predestination  make  in  prac- 
tical religion.  Calling  to  his  assistance  Zeno,  the  founder  of  the 
Stoics,  or  rigid  predestinarians  among  the  heathens,  he  says,  Zeno  one 
day  thrashed  his  servant  for  pilfering.  The  fellow,  knowing  his 
master  was  a  fatalist,  thought  to  bring  himself  off  by  alleging  that  he 
was  destined  to  steal,  and  therefore  ought  not  to  be  beat  for  it." — 
*'  You  are  destined  to  steal,  are  you  ?"  answered  the  philosopher  : 
"  then  you  are  no  less  destined  to  be  thrashed  for  it :  and  laid  on  some 
hearty  blows  extraordinary." — I  do  not  wonder  that  Mr.  Hill,  in  his 
Finishing  Stroke,  calls  Mr.  Toplady's  arguments  ^^  most  masterly;^' 
for  this  argument  of  Zeno  is  yet  more  masterly  than  his  own  :  "I 
shall  not  take  the  least  notice  of  him,  any  more  than  if  I  were  tra- 
velling on  the  road,  I  would  stop  to  lash,  or  even  order  my  footman  to 
lash,  every  little  impertinent  quadruped  in  a  village,  that  should  come 
out  and  bark  at  me."  Mr.  Toplady,  in  the  advertisement  placed  at  the 
head  of  his  pamphlet,  represents  some  of  us  as  unworthy  of  even 
being  pilloried  in  a  preface,  orfiogg'd  at  a  pamphlefs  tail :"  We  are 
now  arrived  at  the  tail  of  his  pamphlet,  in  the  body  of  which  he  has 
thought  Mr.  Wesley  so  highly  worthy  of  his  rod,  as  to  "  flog"  him  with 
the  gratuity,  absoluteness,  mercy,  and  justice,  which  are  peculiar  to 
the  reprobation  defended  through  the  whole  performance.  If  serious- 
ness did  not  become  us,  when  we  vindicate  the  injured  attributes  oF 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  I  might  be  tempted  to  ask  with  a  smile,  has 
Mr.  T.  so  worn  out  his  rod,  in  making  "  More  work  for  Mr.  Wesley,''- 
that  he  is  now  obliged  to  borrow  Zeno's  stick  to  finish  the  execution 
at  the  pamphleVs  tail  ?  For  my  part,  as  I  have  no  idea  of  riveting 
orthodoxy  upon  my  readers  with  a  stick,  and  of  solving  the  rational 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  j  o) 

objections  of  my  opponents  by  "  laying  on  some  hearty  blows,-'  and  s<5 
"thrashing'^  them  into  conviction,  or  into  silence,  I  own  that  Logica 
Zenonis  and  Logica  Genevensis  being  of  a  piece,  either  of  them  can 
easily  beat  me  out  of  the  field.  Arguments  a  lapide  are  laughable  ; 
but  i  flee  before  arguments  a  baculo.  However,  in  my  retreat;  I  will 
venture  to  prevent  Mr.  T.  with  the  following  queries. 

If  ZenOy  in  vindicating  Fatalism^  could  say  to  a  thief,  that  he  wa:^ 
absolutely  predestinated  to  stsalj  and  to  be  thrashed  for  stealing  ;  is  it 
not  more  than  Mr.  Toplady  can  say  in  vindication  o^  Calvinism  ?  For, 
upon  his  scheme,  may  not  a  man  be  absolutely  predestinated,  not  only 
to  stealy  but  also  to  escape  thrashings  and  to  ohtain  salvation  by  stealing  ? 
Mr.  Toplady  is  Mr.  Hill's  second  ;  and  Mr.  Hill  in  his  fourth  letter, 
[where  he  shows  the  happy  effects  of  sin]  tells  the  public  and  me, 
*'  Onesimus  robbed  Philemon  his  master  ;  and  fleeing  from  justice,  was 
brought  under  Paul's  preaching  and  converted.^''  Thus  Zeno^s  predes- 
tination failed,  and  with  it  Zeno's  argument ;  for  robbery  led  not 
Onesimus  to  thrashing,  but  to  conversion  and  glory,  if  we  believe  Mr. 
Hill.  And  if  Mr.  Fulsome  is  an  elect  person,  why  might  he  not  be 
guilty  of  as  fortunate  a  robbery  ?  Why  might  not  a  similar  decree 
'*  secure  and  accomplish  the  [the  same  Evangelical]  end  by  the  [same 
Antinomian]  means  .^"  Mr.  Toplady  nffay  prevail  over  us  by  borrowing 
Zeno's  cane,  and  the  whip  of  Mr.  Hill's  lashing  footman  ;  but  his  pen 
will  never  demonstrate,  1.  That  Calvinism  does  not  rationally  lead  all 
her  admirers  to  the  deepest  mire  of  speculative  Antinomianism :  and 
2.  That  when  they  are  there,  nothing  can  keep  them  from  weltering 
in  the  dirt  of  practical  Antinomianism,  but  an  unhappy  inconsistence 
between  their  actions  and  their  principles. 


SECTION  XI. 

A  Caution  against  the  Tenety  Whatever  is,  is  right;  an  Antinomian 
Tenet  this,  which  Mr.  T.  calls  "  a  first  Principle  of  the  Bible."— 
A71  ans-wer  to  his  Challenge  about  finding  a  middle  Way  between  the 
Calvinian  Doctrine  of  Pkovidence,  and  the  Atheistical  Doctrine  of 
Chance. 

Whatever  the  true  God  works  is  undoubtedly  right.  But  if 
the  Deity  absolutely  works  all  things  in  all  men,  good  and  bad,  it  evi- 
dently follows,  1.  That  the  two-principled  deity  preached  by  Mayie.'i 
is  the  true  God  :  2.  That  the  bad  principle  of  this  double  deity  works 
■wickedness  in  the  wicked,  as  necessarily  as  the  good  principle  works 

Vol.  IV.  18       * 


i38  ANSWER   TO   MR.    TOPLADY's 

righteousness  in  the  righteous.  And  3.  That  the  original  of  wicked- 
ness being  divine,  wickedness  is  as  right  as  the  deity  from  whom  it 
flows.  Upon  this  horrid,  Manichean  scheme,  who  can  wonder  at  Mr. 
Toplady  saying, 

Arck  LXXI.  [p.  96.]  "  This  is  a  first  principle  of  the  Bible,  and 
of  sound  reason,  that  Whatever  is,  is  right ;  or  will  answer  some 
great  end,  &c.  in  its  relation  to  the  whole."— Error  is  never  more 
dangerous  than  when  it  looks  a  little  like  truth.  But  when  it  is  im- 
posed upon  the  simple  as  a  first  principle  of  the  Bible  and  of  sound 
reason,  it  makes  dreadful  work.  How  conclusively  will  a  rigid  Pre- 
destinarian  reason  if  he  says,  *'  Whatever  is,  is  right :  and  therefore 
sin  is  right.  Again,  it  is  wrong  to  hinder  what  is  right :  sin  is  right : 
and  therefore  it  is  wrong  to  hinder  sin. — Once  more,  we  ought  to  do 
what  is  right :  sin  is  right,  and  therefore  we  ought  to  commit  sin." — 
Now,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Toplady's  first  principle,  I  assert  as  a  first 
principle  of  reason,  that,  though  it  was  right  in  God  not  absolutely  to 
hinder  sin,  yet  sin  is  aheays  wrong. — *'  Oh,  but  God  permitted  it, 
and  will  get  himself  glory  by  displaying  his  vindictive  justice  in 
punishing  it :  for  the  ministration  of  condemnation  is  glorious.''^  This 
argument  has  deluded  many  a  pious  Calvinist.  To  overthrow 
it,  I  need  only  observe,  that  righteousness  exceeds  condemnation  in 
glory. 

In  what  respect  is  sin  right?  Can  it  be  right  in  respect  of  God,  if 
it  brings  him  less  glory  than  righteousness  ?  Can  it  be  right  in  respect 
of  man,  if  it  brings  temporal  misery  upon  all,  and  eternal  miserj' 
upon  some?  Can  it  be  right  in  respect  of  the  Adamic  laxv,  the  law  of 
Moses,  or  the  law  of  Christ  ?  Certainly  no  :  for  sin  is  equally  the 
transgression  of  all  these  laws.  '*  Oh,  but  it  is  right  with  respect  to 
the  evangelical  promise." — By  no  means  :  for  the  evangelical 
promise,  vulgarly  called  The  Gospel,  testifies  of  Christ,  the  destroyer 
of  sin,  and  offers  us  a  remedy  against  sin.  Now,  if  sin  were  right, 
the  Gospel  which  remedies  it,  and  Christ  who  destroys  it,  would  be 
wrong.  I  conclude,  then,  that  if  sin  be  right,  neither  with  respect  of 
God  nor  with  respect  of  man  ;  neither  with  regard  to  the  law  nor 
with  regard  to  the  Gospel ;  it  is  right  in  no  shape  :  it  is  wrong  in 
every  point  of  view. 

**  But  why  did  God  permit  it  .^"  Indeed  he  never  properly 
permitted  it,  unless  Mr.  Toplady,  who  does  not  scruple  to  call 
God  "  the  permitter  of  evil,'^  can  prove,  that  to  forbid  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  and  under  the  severest  penalty,  is  the  same  thing  as 
to  permit. 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  139 

Should  you  ask,  Why  did  not  God  absolutely  hinder  sin  ?  I  still 
answer,  1.  Because  his  wist/om  saw  that  a  world  where  free  agents 
and  necessary  agents  are  mixed,  is  better  [all  things  considered]  than 
a  world  stocked  with  nothing  but  necessary  agents,  i.  e.  creatures 
absolutely  hindered  from  sinning. — 2.  Because  his  distributive  justice 
could  be  displayed  no  other  way,  than  by  the  creation  of  accountable 
free  agents,  made  with  an  eye  to  a  day  of  judgment. — 3.  Because  it 
would  be  as  absurd  to  necessitate  free  agents,  as  to  bid  free  agents  be, 
that  they  might  not  be  free  agents ; — as  foolish  as  to  form  accountable 
creatures,  that  they  might  not  be  accountable. — And  4.  Because  when 
God  saw  that  the  free  agency  of  his  creatures  would  introduce  sin, 
he  determined  to  overrule  it,  or  remedy  it  in  such  a  manner  as 
would,  upon  the  whole,  render  this  world,  with  all  the  voluntary  evil, 
and  voluntary  good  in  it,  better  than  a  world  of  necessary  agents, 
where  nothing  but  necessary  good  would  have  been  displayed  :  an 
inferior  sort  of  good  this,  which  would  no  more  have  admitted  of  the 
exercise  of  God's  political  rxnsdom  and  distributive  justice,  than  the 
excellence  of  precious  stones  and  tine  flowers  admits  of  laws, 
rewards,  and  punishments. 

Should  the  reader  ask,  how  far  we  may  safely  go  to  meet  the  truth 
which  borders  most  on  Mr.  Toplady's  false  principle,  zvhateveris,  is 
right?  I  answer,  1.  We  may  grant,  nay,  we  ought  to  assert,  that 
God  will  get  himself  glory  every  wa}'.  Evangelical  grace  and  just 
wrath  minister  to  his  praise,  though  not  equally  :  and  therefore  God 
willeth  not  primarily  the  death  of  his  creatures.  Punishment  is  his 
strange  work  ;  and  he  delights  more  in  the  exercise  of  his  remunera- 
tive goodness,  than  in  the  exercise  of  his  vindictive  jusUce. — 2.  Hence 
it  appears,  that  the  wrath  of  man,  and  the  rage  of  the  devil,  will  turn 
to  God''s  praise  :  but  it  is  only  to  his  inferior  praise.  For,  though  the 
blessed  will  sing  loud  hallelujahs  to  divine  justice,  when  vengeance 
shall  overtake  the  ungodly  ;  and  though  the  consciences  of  the 
ungodly  will  give  God  glory,  and  testify  that  he  is  holy  in  all  bis 
works,  and  righteous  in  all  his  vindictive  ways  ;  yet,  this  glory  will 
be  only  the  glory  of  the  ministration  of  condemnation  : — a  dispensa- 
tion this,  which  is  inferior  to  the  dispensation  of  righteous  mercy. 
Hence  it  appears,  that  those  who  die  in  their  sins,  would  have  brought 
more  glory  to  God  by  choosing  righteousness  and  life,  than  they  do 
by  choosing  death  in  the  error  of  their  ways.  But  still,  this  iiftrior 
praise,  arising  from  the  condemnation  and  punishment  of  ungodly  free 
agents — this  inferior  praise,  I  say,  mixed  with  the  superior  praise 
arising  from  the  justification  and  rewards  of  godly  free  agents,  will  fjir 
exceed   the   praise   which  might  have    accrued   to   God   from  the 


140  ANSWER    TO   MR.    TOPLADY'* 

unavoidable  obedience,  and  absurd  rewards  of  necessitated  agents,— 
of  angels  and  men  absolutely  bound  to  obey  by  a  necessitating  grace.) 
like  that  which  rigid  bound  willers  preach  ;  were  we  even  to  sup- 
pose, that  this  forcible  grace  had  Calvinistically  caught  all  rational 
creatures  in  a  net  of  finished  salvation,  aiid  had  drawn  them  all  to 
heaven  as  irresistibly  as  Simon  Peter  drew  the  net  to  land  full  of  great 
fishes,  an  hundred  and  fifty  and  three.  For,  before  the  Laugiver  and 
Judge  of  all  the  earth,  the  unnecessitated  voluntary  goodness  of  one 
angel,  or  one  man,  is  more  excellent  than  the  necessary  goodness  of  a 
world  of  creature?,  as  unavoidably  and  passively  virtuous,  as  a 
diamond  is  unavoidably  and  passively  bright. 

Arg.  LXXII.  [p.  96,]  With  respect  to  the  second  part  of  Mr. 
Toplady's  doctrine,  that  whatever  is,  is  right,  because  "  it  will  answer 
some  great  end,  ^c.  in  its  relation  to  the  whole ;''''  it  is  nothing  but 
logical  paint  put  on  a  false  'principle,  to  cover  its  deformity  ;  for  error 
can  imitate  Jezebel,  who  laid  natural  paint  on  her  withered  face,  to 
fill  up  her  hideous  wrinkles,  and  impose  upon  the  spectators.  I  may 
perhaps  prove  it  by  an  illustration.  I  want  to  demonstrate  that 
cheating,  extortion,  litigiousness,  breaking  the  peace,  robberies,  and 
murders,  are  all  right,  and  I  do  it  by  asserting,  "  That  they  answer 
some  great  ends  in  their  relation  to  the  whole;  for  they  employ  the 
Parliament  in  making  laws  to  prevent,  end,  or  punish  them  ;  they 
afford  business  to  all  the  judges,  magistrates,  lawyers,  sheriffs,  con- 
stables, jailers,  turnkeys,  thief-catchers,  and  executioners  in  the 
kingdom  :  and  when  robbers  and  murderers  are  hanged,  they  reflect 
praise  upon  the  government  which  extirpates  them  ;  they  strike 
terror  into  the  wicked  ;  and  their  untimely  dreadful  end  sets  off  the 
happiness  of  a  virtuous  course  of  life,  and  the  bliss  which  crowns  the 
death  of  the  righteous.  Besides,  many  murderers  and  robbers  have 
been  brought  to  Christ  for  pardon  and  salvation,  like  the  dying  thief, 
who  by  his  robbery  had  the  good  luck  to  meet  Christ  on  the  cross  : 
so  that  his  own  gallows,  as  well  as  our  Lord's  cross,  proved  the  tree 
of  life  to  that  happy  felon." — The  mischievous  absurdity  of  these 
pleas  for  the  excellence  of  wickedness,  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  argu- 
ments, by  which  a  greedy  publican  of  my  parish  once  exculpated  him- 
self, when  1  reproved  him  for  encouraging  tippling  and  drunkenness. 
"  The  more  ale  we  sell,"  said  he,  ''  the  greater  is  the  king's  revenue. 
If  it  were  not  for  us,  the  king  could  not  live  ; — nor  could  he  pay  the 
lleet  and  army  ; — and  if  we  bad  neither  fleet  nor  army,  we  should 
soon  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  French."  So  great  are  the  ends  which 
tippling  answers  in  its  relation  to  the  whole  British  empire,  if  we  maj'' 


VINDICATION    OF    THE    DECREES.  141 

believe  a  tapster,  who  pleads  for  drunkenness  as  plausibly  as  some 
good  mistaken  men  do  for  all  manner  of  wickedness. 

From  the  whole,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  we  may  safely  conclude, 
that,  though  all  God's  works  are  right,  yet  sm,  the  work  of  fallen 
angels  and  fallen  men,  is  never  right ;  and  that,  though  the  universe, 
with  all  its  sinfulness,  is  better  than  a  sinless  world  necessitated  to  be 
sinless  by  the  destruction  of  free  agents ;  yet,  as  there  is  so  much  sin 
in  the  world,  through  the  wrong  use  which  free  agents  make  of  their 
powers,  Mr.  T.  advances  an  unscriptural  and  irrational  maxim,  whea 
he  says,  that  Whatever  is,  is  right :  and  he  imposes  upon  us  an 
\$ntinomian  paradox,  when  he  asserts  that  this  dangerous  maxim  *'  Is 
a  6rst  principle  of  the  Bible,  and  of  sound  reason."  I  repeat  it:  it 
was  right  in  God  to  create  free  agents,  to  put  them  under  a  practi- 
cable law,  and  to  determine  to  punish  them  according  to  their  works, 
if  they  wantonly  broke  that  law  ;  but  it  could  never  be  right  in  free 
agents  to  break  it,  unless  God  had  bound  them  to  do  it  by  making 
Calvinian  decrees  necessarily  productive  of  sin  and  wickedness.  And 
supposing  God  had  forbid  free  agents  to  sin  by  his  law,  and  had  neces- 
sitated [which  is  more  than  to  enjoin]  them  to  sin  by  Calvinian  decrees  ; 
we  desire  Mr.  T.  to  show  how  it  could  haye  been  right  in  God  to 
forbid  sin  by  law,  to  necessitate  men  to  sin  by  a  decree,  and  to  send 
them  into  eternal  fire  for  not  keeping  a  law  which  he  had  necessitated 
them  to  break. 

The  reasonableness  of  this  doctrine  brings  to  my  remembrance 
the  boldness  of  Mr.  T.'s  challenge  about  the  Calvinian  doctrine  of 
Providence — a  doctrine  this,  which  asserts  that  God  absolutely  neces- 
sitates some  men  to  sin  and  be  damned.     See  Sect.  ii. 

Arg.  LXXIII.  [p.  73.]  "  Upon  the  plan  of  Mr.  Wesley's  conse- 
quence, the  wretch  was  not  a  fool,  but  wise,  who  said  in  hi?  heart 
There  is  no  God.  I  defy  the  Pelagian  to  strike  out  a  middle  way 
between  Providence  and  Chance,"  i.  e.  between  Chance  and  the  Cal- 
vinian notions  of  a  Providence,  which  absolutely  predestinates  sin,  and 
necessitates  men  and  devils  to  commit  it,  &c.  "  Why  did  the  Heathens 
themselves  justly  deem  Epicurus  an  Atheist?  Not  because  he  denied 
the  being  of  a  God  (for  he  asserted  that ;)  but  because  he  denied  the 
agency  of  God's  universal  providence." 

From  this  quotation  it  is  evident,  1.  That  Mr.  T.  indirectly  charges 
us  with  holding  an  Epicurean,  Atheistical  doctrine  about  Providence, 
because  we  abhor  the  doctrine  of  a  predestination  which  represents 
God  as  the  author  of  sin. — And  2.  That  he  defies  or  challenges  us  to 
point  out  a  middle  way  between  the  Atheistical  doctrine  of  Chance, 
and   the  Calvinian  doctrine  of  Providence.     This  challenge   is  too 


142  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY'S 

impoi  tdiit  to  be  disregarded :  an  answer  to  it  will  conclude  the  argu- 
mentative part  of  this  tract. 

There  are  two  opposite  errors  with  respect  to  Providence.  The 
first  is  that  of  the  Epicurean  philosophers,  who  thought  that  God 
does  not  -it  all  concern  himself  about  our  sins,  but  leaves  us  to  go  on 
as  we  please,  and  as  chance  directs.  The  second  is  that  of  the  rigid 
Predestmarians,  who  imagine  that  God  absolutely  predestinates  sin, 
and  necessarily  brings  it  about  to  accomplish  his  absolute  decreet-  of 
eternally  saving  some  men  through  Christ,  and  of  eternally  damning 
all  the  rest  of  mankind  through  Adam.  Of  these  two  erroneous 
sentiments,  the  latter  appears  to  us  the  worse  ;  seeing  it  is  better  to 
represent  God  as  doing  nothing,  than  to  represent  him  as  doing  TSDick- 
cdness.  The  truth  lies  between  these  two  opinions  ;  God's  providence 
is  peculiarly  concerned  about  sin,  but  it  does  by  no  means  necessarily 
hrins:  it  about.  By  this  reasonable  doctrine  ue  answer  Mr.  T.'s 
challenge,  and  strike  out  the  middle  way  between  his  error  and  that 
of  Epicurus. 

If  you  ask,  how  far  God's  providence  is  concerned  about  sin  ?  we 
reply,  that  it  is  concerned  about  it  four  ways.  First,  in  morally 
hinderino-  the  internal  commission  of  it  before  it  is  committed. 
Secondly,  in  providentially  hindering  [at  times]  the  external  commis- 
sion of  it,  when  it  has  been  intentionally  committed.  Thirdly,  in 
marking,  bounding,  and  overruUng  it,  while  it  is  committed.  And, 
fourthly,  in  bringing  about  means  of  properly  pardoning,  or  exem- 
plarily  punishing  it,  after  it  has  been  committed.  Dwell  we  a 
moment  upon  each  of  these  particulars. 

1.  Before  sin  is  committed,  divine  Providence  is  engaged  in  morally 
hindering  the  internal  commission  of  it.  In  order  to  this  God  does 
two  things  :  First,  he  forbids  sin  by  natural,  verbal,  or  written  laws. 
And  secondly,  he  keeps  up  our  powers  of  body  and  soul ;  enduing 
us  with  liberty,  whereby  we  may  abstain,  like  moral  agents,  from  the 
commission  of  sin  ;  furnishing  us  besides  with  a  variety  of  motives 
and  helps  to  resist  every  temptation  to  sin  :  a  great  variety  this, 
which  includes  all  God's  threatenings  and  promises  ; — all  his  exhor- 
tations and  warnings  ;— all  the  checks  of  our  consciences,  and  the 
strivino^s  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ; — all  the  counsels  of  good  men,  and  the 
exemplary  punishments  of  the  wicked  ;  together  with  the  tears  and 
blood  of  Christ,  and  the  other  peculiar  means  of  grace,  which  God 
has  appointed  to  keep  Christians  from  sin,  and  to  strengthen  them  in 
the  performance  of  their  duty. 

2.  When  sin  is  committed  in  the  intention,  God  frequently  prevents 
the  ovtxvard  commission,  or  the  full  completion  of  it,  by  peculiar 


VINDICATION    OP    THE    DECREES.  143 

interpositions  of  his  providence.  Thus  he  hindered  the  men  of 
Sodom  from  injuring  Lot,  by  stiiliing  tliem  %vith  blindness : — he 
hindered  Pharaoh  from  enslavinj^'  the  Israelites,  by  drowning  him  in 
the  Red  Sea  ; — he  hindered  Balaam  from  cursing  Israel,  by  putting  a 
bridle  in  his  mouth  : — he  hindered  Jeroboam  from  hurting  the  pro- 
phet »vho  came  out  of  Judah,  by  drying  up  his  royal  hand,  when  he 
stretched  it  forth,  saying,  Lay  hold  on  him  : — he  hindered  H^rod  from 
destroying  the  holy  child  Jesus,  by  warning  Joseph  to  flee  into  Ep-ypt, 
kc.  kc.  The  Scriptures,  and  the  history  of  the  world,  are  full  of 
accounts  of  the  ordinary  and  extraordinary  interposition^  of  Divine 
Providence  respecting  the  detection  of  intended  mischief,  and  the 
preservation  of  persons  and  states,  whom  the  wicked  determined  to 
destroy  :  and  to  go  no  farther  than  England,  the  providential  discovery 
of  the  gunpQwder  plot,  is  as  remarkable  an  instance  as  any,  that  God 
keeps  a  watchful  eye  upon  the  counsels  of  men,  and  confounds  their 
devices  whenever  he  pleases. 

3.  During  the  commission  of  sin,  God's  providence  is  engaged  in 
marking  it,  in  setting  bounds  to  it.  or  in  overruling  it  in  a  manner  quite 
contrary  to  the  expectation  of  sinners.  When  Joseph's  brethren  con- 
trived the  getting  money  by  selling  him  into  Egypt,  God  contrived 
the  preservation  of  Jacob's  household.  Thus,  when  Hainan  con- 
trived a  gallows  to  hang  Mordecai  thereon,  the  Lord  so  overruled 
this  cruel  design,  that  Haman  was  hung  on  that  very  gallows.  Thus, 
when  Satan  wanted  to  destroy  Job,  God  set  bounds  to  his  rage,  and 
bid  the  fierce  accuser  spare  the  good  man's  lite.  That  envious  fiend 
did  his  worst  to  make  the  patient  saint  cuBse  God  to  his  face  ;  but  the 
Lord  so  overruled  his  malice,  that  it  worked  for  good  to  Job.  For 
when  Job's  patience  had  had  its  perfect  work,  all  his  misfartunes 
ended  in  double  prosperity,  and  all  his  tempestuous  tossings  raised 
him  to  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  :  for,  The  Lord  knows  how  to 
deliver  the  godly  out  of  temptation,  and  to  reserve  the  unjust  to  the  day 
of  judgment,  2  Pet.  ii.  9. — Thus,  again,  to  preserve  the  seed  of  the 
righteous,  God  formerly  kept  100  prophets,  and  7000  true  Israelites^ 
from  the  cruelty  of  Jezebel ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  the  sincere  Chris- 
tians in  Judea,  he  shortened  the  great  tribulation  spoken  of,  Matt, 
xxiv.  22.  When  the  ungodly  are  most  busy  in  sinning,  God's  provi- 
dence is  most  employed  in  counterworking  their  sin,  in  putting  bounds 
to  their  desperate  designs,  and  in  making  a  way  foi-  the  godly  to  escape 
out  of  temptation,  that  they  may  be  able  to  bear  it:  for  the  rod  of  the 
ungodly  cometh  not  [with  its  full  force]  into  the  lot  of  the  righteous,  lest 
the  righteous  put  forth  their  hand  into  iniquity,  through  such  powerful 


144  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY's 

and  lasting  temptations,  as  would  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  stand 
firm  in  the  way  of  duty.     Ps.  cxxv.  3. 

4.  When  sin  is  actually  committed,  the  providence  of  God,  in  con- 
junction with  his  mercy  and  justice,  is  employed,  either  in  using 
means  to  bring  sinners  to  repentance,  confession,  and  pardon,  or  in 
inflicting  upon  (hem  such  punishments  as  seem  most  proper  to  divine 
wisdom.  To  be  convinced  of  it,  read  the  history  of  man's  redemp- 
tion by  Jesus  Christ.  Mark  the  various  steps  by  which  Provi(ience 
brings  the  guilty  to  conviction,  the  penitent  to  pardon,  the  finally 
impenitent  to  destruction,  and  all  to  some  degree  of  punishment.  By 
tvhat  an  amazing  train  of  providential  dispensations  were  Joseph's 
brethren,  for  instance,  brought  to  remember,  lament,  and  smart  for 
their  cruel  behaviour  to  him  !  And  how  did  God,  by  various  afflic- 
tions,  bring  his  rebellious  people  to  consider  their  ways,  and  to  hum- 
ble themselves  before  him  in  the  land  of  their  captivity  !  What  an 
amazing  work  had  Divine  Providence  in  checking  and  punishing  the 
sin  of  Pharaoh  in  Egypt ; — that  of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness  ; — 
that  of  David  and  his  house  in  Jerusalem — and  that  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar and  Belshazzar  in  Babylon  ! 

Evangelically  and  providentially  opening  the  way  for  the  return  of 
sinners,  and  repaying  obdurate  offenders  to  their  face,  make  one  half 
of  God's  work  as  he  is  the  gracious  and  righteous  Governor  of  men. 
We  cannot  doubt  it  if  we  take  notice  of  the  innumerable  means  by 
which  conversions  'Aud  punishments  are  brought  about. — To  touch  only 
upon  punishments :  some  extend  to  the  sea,  others  to  (he  land  :  some 
spread  over  particular  districts,  others  over  whole  kingdoms  : — some 
affect  a  whole  family,  and  others  a  whole  community  :  some  affect  the 
soul,  and  others  the  body  : — some  fall  only  upon  one  limb,  or  one  of 
the  senses  : — others  upon  the  whole  animal  frame  and  all  the  senses  : 
-—some  affect  our  well-being,  others  our  being  itself: — soime  are  con- 
fined to  this  world,  and  others  extend  to  a  future  state  :  some  are  of 
a  temporal  and  others  of  an  eternal  nature.  Now,  since  Providence, 
in  subserviency  to  Divine  justice,  manages  all  these  punishments  and 
innumerable  consequences,  how  mistaken  is  Mr.  T.  when  he  insinu- 
ates that  our  doctrine  supposes  God  to  be  an  idle  spectator  while  sin 
is  committed ! 

6.  With  respect  to  the  gracious  tempers  of  the  righteous,  we 
believe  that  they  all  flow  [though  without  Calvinian  necessity]  from 
the  free  gift  which  is  come  upon  all  men,  and  from  the  light  which  en- 
lightens every  man  that  Cometh  into  the  world.  And  as  to  their  good 
works,  we  are  so  far  from  excluding  Divine  grace  and  Providence,  ii* 
order  to  exalt  absolute  free  will,  that  we  assert,  Not  one  good  work 


VINDICATION   or    THE    DECREES.  145 

would  ever  be  begun,  continued,  or  ended,  if  divine  grace  within  us, 
and  divine  providence  without  us,  did  not  animate  our  souls,  sup- 
port our  bodies,  help  our  infirnoities,  and  [to  use  the  language  of 
our  Church]  '^prevent,  accompany,  and  follow  ms"  through  the 
whole.  And  yet  in  all  moral,  and  in  7na7iy  natural  actions,  we  are 
as  free  from  the  laws  of  Calvinian  necessity  as  from  those  of  the 
Great  Mogul. 

G.  With  regard  to  the  families  and  Jtingdoms  of  this  world,  we 
assert  that  God's  providence  either  baffles,  controls,  or  sets  bounds 
to,  the  bad  designs  of  the  wicked  ;  whilst  it  has  the  principal  hand  in 
succeeding  the  good  designs  of  the  righteous,  as  often  as  they  have 
any  success  :  for  except  the  Lord  keep  the  city,  as  well  as  the  watch- 
man, the  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain.  And  with  respect  to  the 
course  of  nature,  we  believe  that  it  is  ordered  by  his  unerring  coun- 
sel. With  a  view  to  maintain  order  in  the  universe,  his  providential 
wisdom  made  admirable  laws  of  attraction,  repulsion,  generation,  fer- 
mentation, vegetation,  and  dissolution.  And  his  providential  power  and 
watchfulness  are,  though  without  either  labour  or  anxiety,  continually 
engaged  in  conducting  all  things  according  to  those  laws  :  except  when, 
on  proper  occasions,  he  suspends  the  influence  of  his  own  natural 
decrees  ;  and  then  fire  may  cease  to  burn  : — iron  to  sink  in  water  ; — 
and  hungry  lions  to  devour  their  helpless  prey.  Nay,  at  the  beck  of 
Omnipotence,  a  widow's  cruse  of  oil  and  barrel  of  meal  shall  be 
filled  without  the  help  of  the  olive-tree,  and  the  formality  of  a  grow- 
ing  harvest ; — a  dry  rod  shall  suddenly  blossom,  and  a  green  fig-tree 
shall  instantly  be  dried  up  ; — garments  in  daily  use  shall  not  wear  out 
in  forty  years  ; — a  prophet  shall  live  forty  days  without  food  ;— the 
liquid  waves  shall  afibrd  a  solid  walk  to  a  believing  apostle  ; — a  fish 
shall  bring  back  the  piece  of  money  which  it  had  swallowed — and 
water  shall  be  turned  into  wine  without  the  gradual  process  of  vege- 
tation. 

If  Mr.  T.  do  us  the  justice  to  weigh  these  six  observations  upon 
the  prodigious  work  which  God's  Providence  carries  on  in  the 
moral,  spiritual,  and  natural  world,  according  to  our  doctrine:  we 
hope  he  will  no  more  intimate,  that  we  atheistically  deny,  or  here- 
tically  defame,  that  divine  attribute. 

To  conclude  :  we  exactly  steer  our  course  between  rigid  free 
willers,  who  suppose  they  are  independent  on  God's  providence  ;  and 
rigid  bound  willers,  who  fancy  they  do  nothing  but  what  fate  or  God's 
providence  absolutely  binds  them  to  do.  We  equally  detest  the 
error  of  Epicurus,  and  that  of  Mr.  Toplady.  The  former  taught  that 
God  took  no  notice  of  sin  :  the  latter  oav?,  that  God,  by  efficacioy^ 

Vor.   IV  i'^ 


146  ANSWER    TO    MR.    TOPLADY^S 

permissions f  and  irresistible  decrees^  absolutely  necessitates  men  to  com- 
mit it.  But  we  maintain,  that  although  God  never  absolutely  necessi- 
tated his  creatures  to  sin  ;  yet  his  Providence  is  remarkably  employed 
about  sin  in  all  the  above-described  ways.  And  if  Mr.  Toplady  will 
call  us  defamers  of  Divine  Providence,  and  Atheists,  because  we  dare 
not  represent  God,  directly  or  indirectly,  as  the  author  of  sin  ;  we 
rejoice  in  so  honourable  a  reproach,  and  humbly  trust  that  this,  as 
well  as  all  manner  of  similar  evil,  is  rashly  said  of  us  for  righteousness 
sake. 


SECTION  XII. 

Some  Encouragements  for  those  who,  from  a  principle  of  Conscience, 
bear  their  testimony  against  the  Antinomian  doctrine  of  Calvinian 
Election,  and  the  barbarous  doctrine  of  Calvinian  Reprobation. 

I  Humbly  hope  that  I  have  in  the  preceding  pages,  contended 
for  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  honour  of  God's  perfections. 
My  conscience  bears  me  witness,  that  I  have  endeavoured  to  do  it  with 
the  sincerity  of  a  candid  inquirer  after  truth  ;  and  I  have  not,  know- 
ingly, leaped  over  one  material  difficulty  which  Mr.  T.  has  thrown  i*n 
the  way  of  the  laborious  divine,  whose  evangelical  principles  I  vindi- 
cate. And  now,  judicious  reader,  as  1  have  done  my  part,  as  a  de- 
tecter  of  the  fallacies  by  which  the  modern  doctrines  of  grace  are 
*'  kept  upon  their  legs,^^  let  me  prevail  upon  thee  to  do  thy  part  as  a 
judge,  and  to  say  if  the  right  leg  of  Calvinism  [i.  e.  the  lawless  elec- 
tion of  an  unscriptural  grace]  so  draws  thy  admiration  as  to  make  thee 
overlook  :the  deformity  of  the  left  leg,  i.  e.  the  absurd,  unholy,  sin- 
ensuring,  hell-procuring,  merciless,  and  unjust  reprobation,  which 
Mr.  T.  has  attempted  to  vindicate.  Shall  thy  reason,  thy  conscience, 
thy  Bible — and  [what  is  more  than  this]  shall  all  the  perfections  of  thy 
God,  and  the  veracity  of  thy  Saviour,  be  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  a 
reprobation,  which  none  of  the  prophets,  apostles,  and  early  fathers 
ever  heard  of? — -a  barbarous  reprobation,  which  heated  Augustine 
drew  from  the  horrible  error  of  Manichean  necessity,  and  clothed 
with  some  Scripture  expressions  detached  from  the  context,  and 
wrested  from  their  original  meaning  ? — a  Pharisaic  reprobation,  which 
the  Church  of  Rome  took  from  him,  and  which  some  of  our  Reform- 
ers unhappily  brought  from  that  corrupted  society  into  the  Protestant 
churches  ? — In  a  word,  a  reprobation  which  disgraces  Christianity, 
when  that  holy  religion  is  considered  as  a  system  of  evangelical  doc- 


VINDICATION    OP    THE    DECREES.  147 

trine,  as  much  as  our  most  enormous  crimes  disgrace  it,  when  it  is 
considered  as  a  system  of  pure  morahty  ? — shall  such  a  system  of 
reprobation,  I  say,  find  a  place  in  thy  creed  ? — yea,  among  thy  doc- 
trines of  grace  ?    God  forbid. 

Dii  meliora  piis  !  erroremque  hostibus  ilium!  I  hope  better  things  of 
thy  candour,  good  sense,  and  piety.  If  prejudice,  human  authority, 
and  voluntary  humility  seduce  many  good  men  into  a  profound  rever- 
ence for  that  stupendous  dogma,  be  not  carried  away  by  their  number, 
or  biassed  by  their  shouts.  Remember  that  all  Israel,  and  good 
Aaron  at  their  head,  danced  once  round  the  golden  calf : — that  deluded 
Solomon  was  seen  bowing  at  the  shrine  of  Ashiaroth,  the  abomination  of 
the  Sidonians  : — that  all  our  godly  forefathers  worshipped  a  conse- 
crated wafer  400  years  ago  :  that  all  the  world  wondered  after  the 
beast :  and  that  God's  chosen  people  went  a  whoring  nfter  their  own 
inventions^  and  once  sacrificed  their  sons  and  their  daughters  to  devils 
upon  the  altar  of  Moloch.  Consider  this,  I  say,  and  take  courage  : 
be  not  afraid  to  be  "  pilloried  in  a  preface,  flogged  at  a  pamphlet's 
tail,"  and  treated  as  a  knave,  a  felon,  or  a  blasphemer  through  the 
whole  of  the  next  Vindication  of  the  deified^  decrees,  which  are 
commonly  called  Calvinism.  This  may  be  thy  lot,  if  thou  shouldst 
dare  to  bear  thy  plain  testimony  against  the  Antinomian  idol  of  the 
day. 

Nor  say,  that  thou  art  not  in  Italy,  or  Portugal  ;  but  in  a  Pro- 
testant land,  a  land  of  liberty — in  England  :  for  thou  mightest  meet 
with  more  mercy  from  reprobating  priests  in  Popish  Naples  than  in 
orthodox  Geneva.  Being  some  years  ago  in  the  former  of  those 
cities,  among  the  fine  buildings  which  I  \#wed,  one  peculiarly  drew 
my  attention.  It  was  a  towering  monument  several  stories  high, 
erected  by  the  Jesuits  in  honour  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  whose  image 
stood  on  the  top  of  the  elegant  structure.  But  what  surprised  me 
most,  was  an  Italian  inscription  engraven  upon  a  stone  of  the  monu- 
ment, to  this  purpose  :  "  Pope  Benedict  the  XlVth  grants  a  plenary 
indulgence  to  all  those  who  shall  honour  this  holy  image,  with  privi- 
lege to  deliver  one  soul  out  of  purgatory  every  time  they  shall  pay 
their  respects  to  this  immaculate  mother."  While  1  copied  this 
inscription  in  my  pocket-book,  and  dropped  to  my  fellow-traveller 
an  innocent  irony  about  the  absurdity  of  this  Popish  decree  ;  two  or 
three  Priests  passed  by  :  they  smelt  out  our  heresy,  looked  dis- 
pleased, but  did  not  insult  us.  Mr.  Wesley  took,  some  years  ago,  a 
similar  liberty  with  a  literary  monument  erected  in  mystic  Geneva,  to 

*" 'Mr.  T.cnlU  (hem  The  decrefs  nf  God,  and  ii  i^  nn  axioni  among  ibe  Calviiiist'j.  <ln; 
"  God's  dtcrecs  are  God  himself^" 


I4y  ANSW£R   TO   MR.    TOPLADY^S 

the  honour  of  absolute  reprobation.  He  smiled  at  the  severity  of  Cal- 
vinian  bigotry  ;  and  not  without  reason  :  since  Popish  bigotry  kindly 
sends  a  soul  out  of  purgatory,  if  you  reverence  the  black  iroagCj 
which  is  pompously  called  the  immacuJate  Mother  of  God  :  whereas 
Calvinian  bigotry  indirectly  sends  to  hell  all  those  who  shall  not  bow 
to  the  doctrinal  image,  which  she  calls  Divine  Sovereignty,  upon  as 
good  ground,  aS  some  ancient  devotees  called  the  appetite  of  Bel 
[Baal]  and  the  Dragon  divine  voracity.  He  [Mr.  Wesley]  added  to 
his  smile  the  publication  of  an  ironical  reproof  A  gentleman,  who 
serves  at  the  altar  of  absolute  reprobation,  caught  him  in  the  fact,  and 
said  something  about  "  transmitting  the  criminal  to  Virginia  or  Mary- 
land,^ if  not  to  Tyburn.''^  But  free  wrath  yielded  to  free  grace. 
Calvinian  mercy  rejoiced  over  Orthodox  judgment.  Mr.  Wesley  is 
spared.  The  Vindicator  "  of  the  doctrines  of  grace,"  after  "  rapping 
his  k?iiickles,^^ — '■'•  pillorying''''  him  in  a  preface — and  ^^flogging^^ 
him  again  and  again  in  two  pamphlets,  and  in  a  huge  book,  with 
a  tendierness  peculiar  to  the  house  of  mercy  where  Popish  repro- 
bation checks  Protestant  heresy  ; — the  Vindicator  of  Protestant 
reprobation,  I  say,  has  let  the  grey-headed  heretic  go  with  this 
gentle  and  civil  reprimand  :  [page  10 :] — "  Had  I  publicly  distorted 
and  defamed  the  decrees  of  God  :"  [should  it  not  be,  had  I  fairly 
held  out  to  public  view  the  absurdity  of  the  imaginary  decrees 
preached  by  Calvin  ?']■—' ^  had  I,  moreover,  advanced  so  many  miles 
beyond  boldness,  as  to  lay  those  distortions  and  defamations  at  the 
door  of  another :"  [should  it  not  be,  had  I,  moreover,  ironically 
asserted,  that  monstrous  consequences  necessarily  flow  from  mon- 
strous premises:]  '*  bolJ^as  I  am  affirmed  to  be,  I  could  never 
have  looked  up  afterward.  I  should  have  thought  every  mis- 
creant I  met  an  honester  man  than  myself  But  Mr.  John  seems 
a  perfect  stranger  to  these  feelings.  His  murus  aheneus''^  [his  brassy 
hardness]  *'  has  been  too  long  transferred  from  his  conscience  to 
his  forehead.  On  the  whole,  &c.  1  had  rather  let  the  ancient 
offender  pass  unchastized,  than  soil  my  hands  in  the  operation." 
As  Mr.  Weslej'  is  so  kindly  dismissed  by  Mr.  Toplady,  I  must 
«]so  dismiss  thee,  gentle  reader,  and  leave  thee  to  decide,  which 
iS  most  likely  to  convert  thee  to  Calvinian  reprobation,  Urbanitas 
or  Logica  Genevensis ;— the  courtesy  of  our  opponents,  or  their 
'%rguments. 

In  the  mean  time,  if  thou  desire  to  know   how    near   Cahinian 
tUction  comes  to  the  truth,  and  what  is  the  reprobation  which  the 

*See    ^r.  Tcplady's  Letter  to  Mr.  Wesley,  p.  6. 


VINDICATION    OP    THE    DECREES.  149 

Scriptares  maintain,  I  refer  thee  to  an  Essay  on  the  partial  election  of 

grace,  and  on  the  impartial  election  of  justice,  Vol.   iii.    p.  313 A 

dauble  essay  this,  that  unfolds  the  difficulties  in  which  prejudiced 
divines,  and  system-makers  have,  for  these  fourteen  hundred  years, 
involved  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  election  ;  and,  which,  I  flatter 
myself,  will  check  party  spirit,  reconcile  judicious  Protestants  to  one 
another,  and  give  some  useful  hints  to  more  respectable  divines,  who, 
in  happier  days,  will  exert  themselves  in  the  total  extirpation  of  the 
errors  which  disgrace  modern  Christianity. 


THE 


LAST  CHECK 


— -^^v>^^ — 

A 

POLEMICAL  ESSAY 


TWIN  DOCTRINES 


•s^iaiBii^^aA^  asiipisiBii'iKs^iKDs^ 


AND   A 


DEATH  PURGATORY. 


•«5ft^'i'^- — 

Be  ye  perfect.— Every  one  that  is  perfect,  shall  be  as  his  Master.  If  thou  Mrilt  be  perfect,  go, 
and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor.  Jesus  Christ. 

If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  and  consent  not  to  wholesome  words,  even  the  words  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to  godliness,  he  is  proud.  St.  Paul. 

Let  no  man  deceive  you,  &c.  For  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God  was  manifested,  that  he  might 
destroy  the  works  of  the  devil.— Herein  is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may  have  bold- 
ness in  the  day  of  judgment :  because  as  he  (the  Vine)  is,  so  are  we  (the  branches)  in  this 
world.  •^'^-  John. 


S>iai2!?^®3. 


»^« 


Why  the  following  Tract  is  called,  The  Last  Check  to  Antimomian- 
iSM,  and  A  Polemical  Essay. — Mr.  HilVs  Creed  for  Perfectionists. 
— A  short  Account  of  the  Manner  in  which  Souls  are  purged  from  the 
Remains  of  Sm,  according  to  the  Doctrine  of  the  Heathens,  the  Ro- 
manists, and  the  Calvinists.'-^The  Purgatory  recommended  by  the 
Church  of  England,  and  vindicated  in  this  Book,  is  Christ^s  Blood, 
and  a  soul-purifying  Faith. 

I  CALL  the  following  Essay  The  last  Check  to  Antinomianism,  because 
it  properly  continues  and  closes  the  preceding  Checks.  When  a  late 
Fellow  of  Clare-Hall,  Cambridge,  attacked  the  doctrine  of  Sincere 
Obedience  which  1  defend  in  the  Checks,  he  said  with  great  truth, 
•'  Sincere  obedience,  as  a  condition,  will  lead  you  unavoidably  up  to  per- 
fect obedience.  What  he  urged  as  an  argument  against  our  views  of  the 
Gospel  is  one  of  the  reasons  by  which  we  defend  them,  and  perhaps 
the  strongest  of  all :  for  our  doctrine  leads  as  naturally  to  holiness 
and  perfect  obedience,  as  that  of  our  opponents  does  to  sin  and  imper- 
fection. If  the  streams  of  Mr.  HilVs  doctrine  never  stop,  till  they 
have  carried  men  into  a  sea  of  indwelling  sin,  where  he  leaves  them 
to  struggle  with  waves  of  immorality,  or  with  billows  of  corruption, 
all  the  days  of  their  life  ;  it  is  evident  that  our  doctrine,  which  is  the 
very  reverse  of  his,  must  take  us  to  a  sea  of  indwelling  holiness,  where 
we  calmly  outride  all  the  storms  which  Satan  raised  to  destroy  Job's 
perfection ;  and  where  all  our  pursuing  corruptions  are  as  much 
destroyed  as  the  Egyptians  were  in  the  Red  Sea. 

Truth,  like  Moses's  rod,  is  all  of  a  piece  ;  and  so  is  the  serpent 
which  truth  devours.  Look  at  the  tail  of  the  error  which  we 
attack  ;  and  you  will  see  the  venomous,  mortal  sting  of  indwelling  sin. 
Consider  the  but  end  of  the  rod,  with  whicli  we  defend  ourselves 

Vol.  IV.  20 


154  I'REFACEc 

against  that  smooth,  yet  biting  error ;  and  you  will  find  the  pearl  ot 
great  price,  the  invaluable  diamond  of  Christian  Perfection.  In  the 
very  nature  of  things,  therefore,  our  long  controversial  warfare,  must 
end  in  a  close  engagement  for  the  preservation  of  the  stingy  or  for 
the  recovery  of  the  jeweL  If  our  adversaries  can  save  vidwelling 
sin,  the  deadly  sting,  Antinomianism,  has  won  the  day  :  but  if  we  can 
rescue  Christian  perfection,  the  precious  jewel,  then  will  perfect 
Christianity  again  dare  to  show  herself,  without  being  attacked  as  a 
dangerous  monster,  or  scoffed  at  as  the  base  offspring  of  self-igno- 
rance and  Pharisaic  pride.  This  remark  on  the  Jlntinomianism  of  our 
opponents  is  founded  upon  the  following  arguments. 

1.  All  those  who  represent  Christian  believers  as  lawless,  first,  by 
denying  that  Christ's  law  is  a  rule  of  judgment,  which  absolutely 
requires  our  own  personal  obedience  ;  secondly,  by  representing  this 
law  as  a  mere  rule  of  life  ;  and  thirdly,  by  insinuating  that  this  rule 
of  life  is,  after  all,  absolutely  impracticable  ;  that  a  personal  fulfilment 
of  it  is  not  expected  from  any  believer;  that  there  never  was  a  Chris- 
tian who  lived  one  day  without  breaking  it ;  and  that  behevers  shall 
be  eternally  saved,  merely  because  Christ  kept  it  for  them  : — all 
those,  I  say,  who  hold  this  Solifidian  doctrine  concerning  Chrisfs  law, 
are  Christian  Antinomians  with  a  witness  ;  that  is,  they  are  lawless 
Christians  in  principle,  if  not  in  practice.  Now  all  those  who  attack 
the  doctrine  of  constant  obedience,  and  Christian  perfection,  which 
we  maintain,  are  under  this  threefold  error  concerning  Christ's  law  ; 
and  therefore  they  are  all  Antinomians,  that  is.  Christians  lawless  in 
principle,  though  many  of  them,  we  are  persuaded,  are  not  so  in  prac- 
tice ;  the  fear  of  God  causing  in  them  a  happy  inconsistency  between 
their  legal  conduct  and  their  lawless  tenets. 

2.  If  those  who  plead  for  the  breaking  of  Christ's  law  by  the  ne- 
cessary indwelling  of  a  revengeful  thought  07ily  for  one  week,  or  for 
one  day,  are  barefaced  Antinomians  ;  what  shall  we  say  of  the  men, 
who  on  various  pretences,  plead  for  the  necessary  iridwelling  of  all 
manner  of  corruption,  during  the  term  of  life  ?  Can  it  be  said,  with 
any  propriety,  that  these  men  are  free  from  the  plague  of  Antino- 
mianism  ? 

3.  And  lastly,  when  the  reader  comes  to  Section  XVI.  wherein  I  " 
produce  and  answer  the  arguments  by  which  the  ministers  of  the 
imperfect  Gospel  defend  the  continuance  of  indwelling  sin  in  all  be- 
lievers till  death,  he  will  find  that  their  strongest  reasons  for  this  con- 
tinuance, are  the  very  same  which  the  most  lawless  apostates,  and 
the  most  daring  renegadoes,  daily  produce,  when  they  plead  for  their 
continuing  in  drunkenness,  lying,  fornication,  and  adultery :    and  if 


PREFACE.  155 

these  immoral  Gospellers  deserve  the  name  of  gross  Antinomtans :  why 
should  not  the  moral  men,  who  hold  their  loose  principles,  and  pub- 
licly recommend  them  as  "  doctrines  of  grace,"  deserve  the  name  of 
refined  Antinomians  ?  May  not  a  silk-weaver,  who  softly  works  a 
piece  of  taffeta,  be  as  justly  called  a  xmaver  as  a  man  who  weaves  the 
coarsest  sackcloth  ? 

Through  the  force  of  these  observations,  after  weighing  my  subject 
in  the  balances  of  meditation  and  prayer  for  some  month?,  I  am 
come  to  these  alarming  conclusions  :  1.  There  is  no  medium  between 
pleading  for  the  continuance  of  indwelling  sin,  and  pleading  for  the 
continuance  of  heart  Antinomianism.  And  2.  All  who  attack  the  doc- 
trine of  evangelically  sinless  ^eiieciion^  deserve,  Wie?i  they  do  it  (which 
I  would  hope  is  not  often)  the  name  of  advocates  for  sin,  better  than 
the  name  of  Gospel  ministers  and  preachers  of  righteousness.  I  am 
conscious  that  this  twofold  conclusion  wounds,  in  the  tenderest  part, 
several  of  my  dear,  mistaken  brethren  in  the  ministry,  whom,  on 
various  accounts,  I  highly  honour  in  the  Lord.  Nevertheless  I  am 
obliged  in  conscience  to  publish  it,  lest  any  of  my  readers,  or  any  of 
those  whom  they  warn,  should  be  misled  into  Antinomianism  through 
the  mistakes  of  those  popular  preachers  :  for  the  interests  of  truth, 
the  honour  of  Christ's  holy  religion,  and  the  welfare  of  precious 
souls  are,  and  ought  to  be,  to  me  and  to  every  Christian,  far  dearer 
than  the  credit  of  some  good,  injudicious  men,  who  inadvertently 
undermine  the  cause  of  godliness  ;  thinking  to  do  God  service  by 
stretching  forth  a  solifidian  hand  to  uphold  the  ark  of  Gospel  truth. 
Thus  much  for  the  reasons  which  have  engaged  me  to  call  this  Essay 
The  last  Check  to  Antinomianism. 

If  the  reader  desires  to  know,  why  I  call  it  also  A  Polemical  Essay, 
he  is  informed  that  Richard  Hill,  Esq.  (at  the  end  of  a  pamphlet, 
entitled  Three  Letters  written  to  the  Rev.  J.  Fletcher,  Vicar  of  Made- 
ley,)  has  published  '•^  A  Creed  for  Arminians  and  Perfectionists.^^  The 
ten  first  articles  of  this  Creed,  which  respect  the  Arminians,  I  have 
already  answered  in  The  fictitious  and  genuine  Creed ;  and  the  follow- 
ing sheets  contain  my  reply  to  the  last  article,  which  entirely  refers 
to  the  Perfectionists. 

That  gentleman  introduces  the  whole  of  his  fictitious  Creed  by 
these  lines  :  "  The  following  confession  of  faith,  however  shocking,  not 
to  say  blasphemous,  it  may  appear  to  the  humble  Christian,  must  inevita- 
bly be  adopted,  if  not  in  express  words,  yet  in  substance,  by  every  Armi- 
nian  and  Perfectionist  whatsoever ;  though  the  last  article  of  it  chiefty 
concerns  such  as  are  ordained  Ministers  of  the  Church  of  England,"— 
The  last  article,  which  is  the  Creed  I  aoswer  here,  runs  thn?  : 


15^  PREFACE. 

"  Though  I  have  solemnly  subscribed  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  have  affirmed  that  1  believe  them 
from  my  heart,  yet  I  think  our  Reformers  were  profoundly  ignorant 
of  true  Christianity,  when  they  declared  in  the  ninth  Article,  that 
"  the  infection  of  nature  does  remain  in  them  which  are  regenerate  ,**' 
and  in  the  fifteenth,  that  "  All  we  the  rest  [Christ  only  excepted) 
although  baptized  and  born  again  in  Christy  yet  qff^end  in  many  things, 
and  if  we  say  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not 
in  us."  This  1  totally  deny,  because  it  cuts  up  root  and  branch  my 
favourite  doctrine  of  Perfection :  and  therefore  let  Peter,  Paul,  James, 
and  John,  say  what  they  will,  and  let  the  Reformers  and  Martyrs  join 
their  siren  song,  their  eyes  were  at  best  but  half  opened  (for  want 
of  a  little  Foundry  eye-salve  ;)  therefore  I  cannot  look  upon  them  as 
adult  believers  in  Jesus  Christ. 

J.  F. 
J.  W. 

W.  S." 

These  initial  letters  probably  stand  for  John  Fletcher,  John  Wesley, 
and  Walter  Sellon.  As  Mr.  Hdl  seems  to  level  his  witty  creed  at  me 
fast,  1  shall  Jirst  make  my  observations  upon  it.  The  van  without 
the  main  body  and  the  rear,  may  perhaps  make  a  proper  stand  against 
that  gentleman's  mistake  : — A  dangerous  mistake  this,  which  is  inse- 
parably connected  with  the  doctrine  of  a  purgatory  little  better  than 
that  of  the  Papists  ;  it  being  evident,  that,  if  we  cannot  be  purged 
from  the  remains  of  sin  in  this  life,  we  must  be  purged  from  Jhem  in 
death,  or  after  death  ;  or  we  must  be  banished  from  God's  presence ; 
for  reason  and  Scripture  jointly  depose,  that  nothing  unholy  or  unclean 
shall  enter  into  the  heavenly  Jerusalem. 

If  we  understand  by  Purgatory,  the  manner  in  which  souls  still 
polluted  with  the  remains  of  sin,  are,  or  may  be,  purged  from  these 
remains,  that  they  may  see  a  holy  God,  and  dwell  with  him  for  ever; 
the  question.  Which  is  the  true  Purgatory?  is  by  no  means  frivolous  : 
for  it  is  the  grand  inquiry,  How  shall  I  be  eternally  saved  P  proposed 
in  different  expressions. 

There  are  four  opinions  concerning  Purgatory,  or  the  purgation 
of  souls  from  the  remains  of  sin.  The  wildest  is  that  of  the  heathens, 
who  S!ippo?ed,  *'  That  the  souls,  who  depart  this  life  with  some  moral 
filth  cleaving  to  them,  are  purified  by  being  hanged  out  to  sharp, 
cutting  winds  ;  by  being  plunged  into  a  deep,  impetuous  whirlpool : 
or  by  being  thrown  into  a  refining  fire  in  some  Tartarean  region;'' 
witness  these  lines  of  Virgil : 


I'REPACE.  157 


■Alise  panduntur  inanes 


Suspensas  ad  veutos  :  aliis  sub  j^rgite  vasto 
Infectum  eluitur  scelus,  aut  exuritur  igai. 

The  second  opinioa  is  that  of  the  Romanists,  who  teach,  that  such 
souls  are  completely  sanctified  by  the  virtue  of  Christ's  blood,  and 
the  sharp  operation  of  a  penal  temporary  fire  in  the  suburbs  of  hell. 
The  third  opinion  is  that  of  the  Calvinists,  who  think,  that  the  stroke 
of  death  must  absolutely  be  joined  with  Christ's  blood  and  Spirit, 
and  with  our  faith,  to  cleanse  the  thoughts  of  our  hearts,  and  to  kill 
the  inbred  man  of  sin. 

The  last  sentiment  is  that  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  teaches 
that  there  is  no  other  Purgatory  but  «*  Christ's  blood" — *'  Steadfast, 
perfect  faith" — and  *'  The  inspiration  of  God's  holy  Spirit  cleansing 
the  thoughts  of  our  hearts,  that  we  may  perfectly  love  him,  and 
worthily  magnify  his  holy  name." — "  The  only  Purgatory,  wherein 
we  must  trust  to  be  saved  [says  she]  is  the  death  and  blood  of  Christ, 
which,  if  we  apprehend  with  a  true  and  steadfast  faith,  called  soon 
after  '  a  perfect  faith,''  it  purgeth  and  cleanseth  us  from  all  our  sins. 
The  blood  of  Christ,  says  St.  John,  hath  cleansed  us  from  all  sin.  The 
Hood  of  Christ,  says  St.  Paul,  hath  purged  our  consciences  from  dead 
works  to  serve  the   living  God,  <5»c.      This  then  is   the    Purgatory 

wherein  all  Christian  men  put  their  trust  and  confidence." Homily 

on  Prayer,  Part  iii. 

Nor  is  this  doctrine  of  Purgatory  peculiar  to  the  Church  of 
England  ;  for  the  unprejudiced  Puritans  themselves  maintained  it  in 
the  last  century.  Mr.  R.  Alleine,  in  his  excellent  treatise  on  Godly 
Fear,  printed  in  London,  1674,  says,  page  161,  '*  The  Lord  C^'hrist  is 
sometimes  resembled  to  a  refining  fire,  &c.  He  is  a  refiner'^s  fire, — 
and  he  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver.  He  shall  purify, 
he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins,  yet  so  as  by  fire.  God  has  his 
purgatory  .as  well  as  his  hell;  though  not  according  to  that  Popish 
dream,  a  purgatory  after  this  life." — And  I  beg  leave  to  add  ; — though 
not  according  to  that  Calvinian  dream,  a  purgatory  when  we  leave 
this  life — a  purgatory  in  the  article  of  death. 

The  scriptural  doctrine  of  Purgatory  is  vindicated,  and  the  new- 
fangled doctrine  of  a  Death  Purgatory  is  exploded,  in  the  following 
pages  :  wherein  I  endeavour  both  to  defend  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God,  and  to  attack  the  false  liberty  of  those,  n^ho,  while 
they  promise  liberty  to  others  in  Christ,  are  themselves  [doctrinally  at 
least]  the  servants  of  corruption ;  pleading  hard  for  the  indwelling  of 
sin  in  our  hearts  so  long  as  we  live ;  and  thinking  it  almost  "  blasphc' 
woks"  to  assert,  that  ChrisCs  blood,  fully  applied  by  the  Spirit,  through 


158  PREFACE* 

a  steadfast  faith,  can  radically  cleanse  us  from  all  sm,  without  the  leasfc 
assistance  from  the  arrows  or  sweats  of  death. 

Reader,  I  plead  for  the  most  precious  liberty  in  the  world,  heart 
liberty :— for  liberty  from  the  most  galling  of  all  yokes,  the  yoke  of 
heart  corruption: — let  not  thy  prejudices  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
important  plea.  If  thou  candidly,  believingly,  and  practically  receive 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ^  it  shall  make  thee  free,  and  thou  shalt  be  free 
indeed.  Then,  instead  of  shouting,  "  Indwelling  sin  and  death  pur- 
gatory," thou  wilt  fulfil  the  law  of  liberty:  shouting,  "Christ  and 
Christian  liberty  for  ever."  In  the  mean  time,  when  thou  makest 
intercession  for  thy  well-wishers,  remember  the  author  of  this  Essay ^ 
and  pray  that  he  may  plead  on  his  knees  against  the  remains  of  sin^ 
far  more  earnestly  than  he  does  in  these  sheets  again&t  Mr.  Hill'& 
mistakes. 


THE 


lAST  CHECK 

TO 

ANTINOMIANISM. 

SECTION  I. 

Fke  best  way  of  opposing  the  Doctrines  o/*  Christian  imperfection  and 
■a  DEATH  PURGATORY,  is  to  place  the  doctrine  of  Christian  per- 
fection in  a  proper  light. — Christian  perfection  1*5  the  matu- 
rity of  a  believer^s  grace  under  the  Gospel  of  Christ. — It  is  absurd  to 
suppose  that  this  perfection  is  sinless,  if  it  be  measured  by  our  Crea- 
tor's law  of  paradisiacal  Innocence  and  Obedience. — Established 
believers  fulfil  our  Redeemer's  evangelical  law  of  liberty.  Whilst 
they  fulfil  it  they  do  not  transgress  it,-  that  is,  [evangelically  speak- 
ing] they  DO  not  sin. 

iTAOST  of  the  controversies  which  arise  between  men  who  fear 
God,  spring  from  the  hurry  with  which  some  of  them  find  fault  with 
what  they  have  not  yet  examined,  and  speak  evil  of  what  they  do 
not  understand.  Why  does  Mr.  Hill,  at  the  head  of  the  Calvinists, 
attack  the  doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection  \}fhich  we  contend  for? 
Is  it  because  he  and  they  are  sworn  enemies  to  righteousness,  and 
zealous  protectors  of  iniquity  ?  Not  at  all.  The  grand  reason,  next 
to  their  Calvinian  prejudices,  is  their  inattention  to  the  question,  and 
to  the  arguments  by  which  our  sentiments  are  supported.  Notwith- 
standing the  manner  in  which  that  gentleman  has  treated  me  and  my 
friends  in  his  controversial  heats,  I  still  entertain  so  good  an  opinion 
of  him  as  to  think,  that  if  he  understood  our  doctrine,  he  would  no 
more  pour  contempt  upon  it  than  upon  the  Oracles  of  God.  I  shall 
therefore  endeavour  to  rectify  his  ideas  of  the  glorious  Christian 
liberty  which  we  press  after.  If  producing  light  is  the  best  method 
i)f  opposing  darkness,  setting  the  doctrine  of  Oiristian  Perfection  in  a 
proper  point  of  view  will  be  the  best  means  of  opposing  the  doc 


160  THE    LAST   CHECK 

trines  of  Christian  imperfection,  and  of  a  death  purgatory.  Begin  we 
then  by  taking  a  view  of  our  Jerusalem  and  her  perfection :  and 
when  we  shall  have  marked  her  bulwarks,  and  cleared  the  ground 
between  her  towers  and  Vlr.  HilPs  battery,  we  shall  march  up  to  it, 
and  see  whether  his  arj^juments  have  the  solidity  of  brass,  or  only 
the  showy  appearance  of  wooden  artillery,  painted  and  mounted  like 
brazen  ordnance. 

Christian  Perfection !  Why  should  the  harmless  phrase  offend  us  ? 
— Perfection!  Why  should  that  lovely  word  iVighten  us?  Is  it  not 
common  and  plain  ?  Did  not  Cicero  speak  intelligibly,  when  he  called 
accomplished  philosophers  "  perfectos  philosophos  ;"  and  an  excellent 
orator  '' perfectum  oratorem  ?"  Did  Ovid  expose  his  reputation 
when  he  sai.J,  that  "  Chiron  perfected  Achilles  in  music,'"*  '*  or  taught 
him  to  play  upon  the  lute  to  perfection  ?^''  And  does  Mr.  Ht7/ think  it 
wrong  to  observe  that  fruit  grown  to  maturity  is  in  its  perfection  ? 
We,  whom  that  gentleman  caWs  perfectionists,  use  the  word  perfection] 
exactly  in  the  same  sense  ;  giving  that  name  to  the  maturity  of  grace 
peculiar  to  established  believers  under  their  respective  dispensa- 
tions ;  and  if  this  be  an  error,  we  are  led  into  it  by  the  Sacred 
Writers,  who  use  the  word  perfection  as  well  as  we. 

The  word  predestinate  occurs  but  four  times  in  all  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  word  predestination  not  once;  and  yet,  Mr.  Hill  would 
justly  exclaim  against  us,  if  we  showed  our  wit  by  calling  for  "  a 
little  Foundry'^  or  Tabernacle  "  eye-salve,''  to  help  us  to  see  the  word 
predestination  once  in  all  the  Bible.  Not  so  the  word  perfection ;  it 
occurs  with  its  derivatives  as  frequently  as  most  words  in  the 
Scriptures  ;  and  not  seldom  in  the  very  same  sense  in  which  we 
take  it.  Nevertheless  we  do  not  lay  an  undue  stress  upon  the  ex- 
pression ;  and  if  we  thought  that  our  condescension  would  answer  any 

*  Phillyrides  puerum  cithara  perfecit  Achillem. 

f  The  word  perfection  comes  from  the  L?itm  perficio,  to  perfect,  to  finish,  toaccomplish  , 
it  exactly  answers  to  the  words  CDOn,  and  reXeiota,  generally  used  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  Nor  can  their  derivatives  be  more  literally  and  exactly  rendered  than  hy perfect 
and  perfection.  If  our  translators  render  sometimes  the  word  OH,  by  upright  and  sincere^ 
or  by  sincerity  and  integrity,  it  is  because  they  know  that  these  expressions,  like  the  original 
word,  admit  of  a  great  latitude.  Thus  Co^/meZ  calls  wood  that  has  no  rotten  part,  and  is  per- 
fecdy  sound,  lignum  sincerum  :  and  Horace  says,  that  a  sweet  cask,  which  has  no  bad  smell 
of  any  sort,  is  vas  sincerum  Thus  also  Cicero  calls  purity  of  diction,  which  is  perfectly  free 
from  faults  against  grammar,  istegritas  sermonis .-  Plautus  says,  that  a  pure,  undefiled  vir- 
gin, is  flia  INTEGRA.  And  our  translators  call  the  perfectly  pure  milk  of  God's  word.  The 
SINCERE  milk  of  the  word :  1  Peter  ii.  2.  If  therefore  the  words  sincerity  and  integrity  are 
,  taken  in  their  full  latitade,  they  convey  the  fullest  meaning  of  HDH  and  TsMiaria^  i.  e. 
■perfdstion- 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  161 

good  end,  we  would  entirely  give  up  that  harmless  and  significant 
word.  But  if  it  is  expedient  to  retain  the  unscriptural  word  Trinity, 
because  it  is  a  kind  of  watch-word,  by  which  we  frequently  discover 
the  secret  opposera  of  the  mysterious  distinction  of  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost  in  the  Divine  Unity  ;  how  much  more  proper  is  it  not  to 
renounce  the  Scriptural  word  Perfection^  by  which  the  dispirited 
spies,  who  bring  an  evil  report  upon  the  good  land  of  holiness,  are 
often  detected  ] — Add  to  this,  that  the  following  declaration  of  our 
Lord  does  not  permit  us  to  renounce  either  the  word  or  the  thing. 
Whosoever  shall  he  ashamed  of  me  and  of  my  words  in  this  sinful  gene- 
ration^  of  him  also  shall  the  Sun  of  inaji  be  ashamed  when  he  cometh 
in  the  glory  of  his  Father.  Now  the  words  of  my  motto,  Be  ye  per- 
fect, kc.  being  Christ's  own  words,  we  dare  no  more  be  ashamed  of 
them,  than  we  dare  desire  him  to  be  ashamed  of  us  in  the  great 
day.     Thus  much  for  the  word  perfection. 

Again  :  we  give  the  name  of  Christian  Perfection  to  that  maturity 
of  grace  and  holiness,  which  established,  adult  believers,  attain  to 
under  the  Christian  dispensation  :  and  thus  we  distinguish  that  matu- 
rity of  grace,  both  from  the  ripeness  of  grace  which  belongs  to  the 
dispensation  of  the  Jews  below  us,  and  from  the  ripeness  of  glory 
which  belongs  to  departed  saints  above  us.  Hence  it  appears,  that  by 
Christian  Perfection  we  mean  nothing  but  the  cluster  and  maturity  of 
the  graces  which  compose  the  Christian  church  militant. 

In  other  words,  Christian  Perfection  is  a  spiritual  constellation 
made  up  of  these  gracious  stars.  Perfect  repentance.  Perfect  faith, 
Perfect  humility,  Perfect  meekness,  Perfect  self-denial.  Perfect  resig- 
nation, Perfect  hope.  Perfect  charity  for  our  visible  enemies,  as 
well  as  for  our  earthly  relations  ; — and  above  all.  Perfect  love 
for  our  invisible  God,  through  the  explicit  knowledge  of  our  Medi- 
ator Jesus  Christ.  And  as  this  last  star  is  always  accompanied  by  all 
the  others,  as  Jupiter  is  by  his  satellites,  we  frequently  use,  as  St.  John, 
the  phrase  Perfect  love,  instead  of  the  word  perfection;  understanding 
by  it  the  pure  love  of  God,  shed  abroad  in  the  hearts  of  established 
believers  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  abundantly  given  them  under 
the  fulness  of  the  Christian   dispensation. 

Should  Mr.  Hill  ask  if  the  Christian  Perfection,  which  we  contend 
for  is  a  sinless  perfection,  we  reply,  Sin  is  the  transgression  of  a  di- 
vine law,  and  man  may  be  considered  either  as  being  under  the  anti- 
evangelical,  Christless,  remediless  law  of  our  Creator;  or  as  being 
under  the  evangelical,  mediatorial,  remedying  law  of  our  Redeemer , 
and  the  question  must  be  answered  according  to  the  nature  of  those 
two  laws. 

Vol.  IV.  «l 


-•^0111 


162  THE   LAST   CHECK 

With  respect  to  the  first,  that  is,  the  Adamicy  Christless  law  of 
innocence  and  paradisiacal  perfection,  we  utterly  renoiipce  the  doc- 
trine of  sinless  perfection,  for  three  reasons:  1.  We  are  conceived 
and  horn  in  a  state  of  sinful  degeneracy,  whereby  that  law  is  already 
Tirtually  broken.  2.  Our  mental  and  bodily  powers  are  so  enfeebled, 
that  we  cannot  help  actually  breaking  that  law  in  numberless  instan- 
ces, even  after  our  full  conversion.  And  3.  when  once  we  have 
broken  that  law,  it  considers  us  as  transgressors  for  ever :  nor  can  it 
any  /nore  pronounce  us  siriless,  than  the  rigorous  law  which  condemns 
a  man  to  be  hanged  for  murder  can  absolve  a  murderer,  let  his 
repentance  and  faith  be  ever  so  perfect.  Therefore,  I  repeat  it, 
with  respect  to  the  Christless  law  of  paradisiacal  obedience,  we 
entirely  disclaim  sinless  perfection  ;  and,  improperly  speaking,  we 
say  with  Luther,  ''  In  every  good  work  the  just  man  sinneth  ;"  that  is, 
he  more  or  less  transgresses  the  law  of  paradisiacal  innocence,  by 
not  thinking  so  deeply,  not  speaking  so  gracefully,  not  acting  so  pro- 
perly, not  obeying  so  vigorously  as  he  would  do,  if  he  were  still 
endued  with  original  perfection,  and  paradisiacal  powers.  Nor  do 
we,  in  the  same  sense,  scruple  to  say  with  bishop  Latimer,  *'  He 
[Christ]  saved  us,  not  that  we  should  be  without  sin ;  that  no  sin 
should  be  left  in  our  hearts  :  no,  he  saved  us  not  so.  For  all  manner 
of  imperfections  remain  in  us,  yea,  in  the  best  of  us  :  so  that  if  God 
should  enterinto  judgment  with  us  [according  to  the  Christless  law  given 
to  Adam  before  the  fall]  we  should  be  damned.-  For  there  neither  is 
nor  was  any  man  born  into  this  world,  who  could  say,  I  am  clean  from 
sin,  [I  fulfil  the  Adamic  law  of  innocence]  except  Jesus  Christ.'" 
And  in  that  sense,  we  have  all  reason  to  pray  with  David,  Cleanse  thou 
me  from  my  secret  faults  ;  for  if  thou  wilt  mark  what  is  done  amiss, 
Lord,  voho  may  abide  it? — If  thou  wilt  judge  us  according  to  the  law 
of  paradisiacal  perfection,  what  man  living  shall  be  justified  in  thy 
sight?  But  Christ  has  so  completely  fulfilled  our  Creator's  paradisi- 
acal law  of  innocence,  which  allows  neither  of  repentance  nor  of 
renewed  obedience,  that  we  shall  not  be  judged  by  that  law  ;  but  by 
a  law  adapted  to  our  present  state  and  circumstances,  a  milder  law. 
called  the  law  of  Christ,  i.  e.  the  Mediator's  law,  which  is,  like  him- 
self,/m//  of  evangelical  grace  o^nd  truth. 

To  the  many  arguments  which  I  have  advanced  in  the  Checks  in 
defence  o{  this  law,  I  shall  add  one  more,  taken  from  Heb.  vii.  12  ;  th^ 
priesthood  being  changed,  there  is  made  of  necessity  a  change  also  of  the 
law.  From  these  words  I  conclude,  that  if  the  law  under  which  the 
Jews  were,  was  of  7iecessit^  changed,  when  God  substituted  the  priest- 
hmd  of  Christ  for  that  of  Anron ;  much  more  was  the  Adamic  law  ot^ 


TO    ANTINOMIANISK.  163 

paradisiacal  innocence  of  necessity  changed,  when  God  gave  to  Acjara 
by  promise  the  Bruiser  of  the  serpents  heady  the  High-priest  after  the 
order  of  Melchisedec.  For  if  a  change  in  the  external  priesthood  of 
necessity  implied  a  change  of  the  Mosaic  law  ;  how  much  more  did  the 
institution  of  the  priesthood  itself  necessarily  imply  a  change  of  the 
Jidamic  law,  which  was  given  without  any  mediating  priest ! 

If  Mr.  Hill,  therefore,  will  do  our  doctrine  justice,  we  entreat 
him  to  consider,  that  we  are  not  -without  law  to  God,  nor  yet  under  a 
Christless  law  with  Adam  ;  but  under  a  law  to  Christ,  that  is,  under 
the  law  of  our  royal  Priest,  the  evangelical  law  of  liberty : — a  more 
gracious  law  this,  which  allows  a  sincere  repentance,  and  is  fulfilled 
by  loving  ^lith.  Now  as  we  shall  be  judged  by  this  law  of  liberty,  we 
maintain  not  only  that  it  may,  but  also  that  it  must,  be  kept ;  and  that 
it  is  actually  kept  by  established  Christians,  according  to  the  last 
and  fullest  edition  of  it,  which  is  that  of  the  New  Testament.  Nor 
do  we  think  it  "  shocking'^  to  hear  an  adult  believer  say,  The  law  of 
the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin 
and  death.  For  what  the  Zaa>  [of  innocence,  or  the  letter  of  the 
Mosaic  law]  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God 
sending  his  own  Son,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh,  that  the  righteousness  of 
the  law  might  be  [evangelically]  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the 
flesh  but  after  the  Spirit.     Rom.  viii.  2,  &c. 

Reason  and  Scripture  seem  to  us  to  confirm  this  doctrine  :  for  we 
think  it  far  less  absurd  to  say,  that  the  king  and  parliament  make 
laws  which  no  Englishman  can  possibly  keep  ;  than  to  suppose,  that 
Christ  and  his  apostles  have  given  us  precepts  which  no  Christian  is 
able  to  observe  :  and  St.  James  assures  us,  the  evangelical  law  of 
Christ  and  liberty  is  that  by  which  we  shall  stand  or  fall  in  judgment: 
.So  speak  ye,  and  so  do,  says  he,  as  they  that  shall  be  judged  by  the  law  of 
liberty,  James  ii.  12.  We  find  the  Christian  edition  of  that  law  in  all 
parts  of  the  New  Testament,  but  especially  in  our  Lord's  sermon  on 
the  mount,  and  in  St.  Paul's  description  of  charity. — We  are  per- 
suaded with  St.  John  and  St.  Paul,  that  as  sin  is  in  transgression,  so 
penitential,  pure  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  thnt  evangelical  law:  and 
therefore  do  not  scruple  to  say  with  the  apostle,  that  he  who  lovelh 
another  hath  fulfilled  it ; — and  that  there  is  no  occasion  of  stumbling,  i.  e. 
no  sin,  in  him;  fulfilling,  the  law  of  Christ  and  sinning  (in  the  evan- 
gelical sense  of  the  word)  being  as  diametrically  opposite  to  each 
other,  as  obeying  and  disobeying — working  righteousness  and  working 
iniquity. 

We  do  not  doubt  but,  as  a  reasonable,  loving  father  never  requires 
of  his  child,  who  is  only  ten  years  old,  the  work  of  one  who  is  tliirty 


164  THE    LAST    CHECK 

years  of  age  ;  so  our  heavenly  Father  never  expects  of  us,  in  our 
debilitated  state,  the  obedience  of  immortal  Adam  in  paradise,  or  the 
uninterrupted  worship  of  sleepless  angels  in  heaven.  We  are  per- 
suaded therefore,  that  for  Christ's  sake,  he  is  pleased  with  an  humble 
obedience  to  our  present  light,  and  a  loving  exertion  of  our  present 
powers  ;  accepting  our  Gospel  services  according  to  nvhat  we  have, 
and  not  according  to  what  we  have  not.  Nor  dare  we  call  that  loving 
exertion  of  our  present  power  sin,  lest  by  so  doing  we  should  contra- 
dict the  Scriptures,  confound  sin  and  obedience,  and  remove  all  the 
landmarks  which  divide  the  devil's  common  from  the  Lord's  vine- 
yard. And,  if  at  any  time  we  have  exaggerated  the  difficulty  of  keep- 
ing Christ's  law,  we  acknowledge  our  error,  and  confess,  that  by  this 
mean  we  have  Calvinistically  traduced  the  equity  of  our  gracious 
God,  and  inadvertently  encouraged  Antinomian  delusions. 

To  conclude  :  We  believe,  that  although  adult,  established  believers, 
or  perfect  Christians,  may  admit  of  many  involuntary  mistakes,  errors, 
and  faults  ;  and  of  many  involuntary  improprieties  of  speech  and 
behaviour;  yet,  so  long  as  their  will  is  bent  upon  doing  God's  will; 
—so  Ions:  as  they  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit  ; — so 
long  as  they  fuljil  the  law  of  liberty  by  pure  love,  they  do  not  sin 
according  to  the  Gospel  :  because  (evangelically  speaking)  sin  is  the 
transgression,  and  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  that  law.  Far  then  from 
thinking  that  there  is  the  least  absurdity  in  saying  daily.  Vouchsafe 
to  keep  me  this  day  without  sin,  we  doubt  not  but  in  the  believers,  who 
who  walk  in  the  light  as  Christ  is  in  the  light,  that  deep  petition  is 
answered  ;  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  which  they  are  under,  is 
fulfilled  ;  and  of  consequence,  an  ev^ingelically  sinless  perfection  is 
daily  experienced.  1  say  evangelically  sinless,  because,  without 
the  word  evangelically,  the  phrase  sinless  perfection  gives  an 
occasion  of  cavilling  to  those  who  seek  it,  as  Mr.  Wesley  intimates  in 
the  following  quotation,  which  is  taken  from  his  Plain  Account  of 
Christian  Perfection,  page  60.  "  To  explain  myself  a  little  farther  on 
this  head  :  1.  Not  only  sin,  properly  so  called,  that  is,  a  voluntary 
transgression  of  a  known  law,  but  sin,  improperly  so  called,  that  is.  an 
involuntary  transgression  of  a  divine  law,  known  ox  unknown,  needs 
the  atoning  blood. — 2.  1  believe  there  is  no  such  perfection  in  this  life, 
as  excludes  these  involuntary  transgressions,  which  I  apprehend  to  be 
naturally  consequent  on  the  ignorance  and  mistakes  inseparable  from 
mortality — 4.  Therefore  sinless  perfection  is  a  phrase  1  never  use, 
lest  I  should  seem  to  contradict  myself. — 3.  1  believe  a  person  filled 
with  the  love  of  God  is  still  liable  to  these  involuntary  transgressions. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  165 

—5.  Such  transgressions  you  may  call  sins,  if  you  please  ;  I  do  not 
for  the  reasons  above  mentioned." 

SECTION  II. 

Pious  Calvinists  have  had,  at  times,  nearly  the  same  Views  of  Christian 
Perfection  which  we  have.  They  dissent  from  us  chiefly  because  they 
confound  the  anti- evangelical  Law  of  Innocence,  and  the  evangelical 
Law  of  Liberty,  Adamic  and  Christian  Perfection  ;  and  because  they 
%do  not  consider  that  Christian  Perfection,  falling  infinitely  short  of 
God^s  ABSOLUTE  Perfection,  admits  of  a  daily  growth. 

If  it  were  necessary,  we  could  support  the  doctrine  of  Christian 
Perfection  stated  in  the  preceding  pages,  by  almost  numberlesi 
quotations  from  the  most  judicious  and  pious  Calvinists.  The  senti- 
ments of  two  or  three  of  them  may  edify  the  reader,  and  give  him  a 
specimen  of  the  candour  with  which  they  have  written  upon  the 
subject,  when  a  spring-tide  of  evangelical  truth  raised  them  above 
the  shallows  of  their  system. 

•  *'  If  love  be  sincere,^'*  says  pious  Mr.  Henry,  "  it  is  accepted  as  the 
fulfilhng  of  the  law.  Surely  we  serve  a  good  Master,  that  has  sum- 
med up  all  our  duty  in  one  word,  and  that  a  short  word,  and  a  sweet 
word,  Love,  the  beauty  and  harmony  of  the  universe.  Loving  and 
being  loved  is  all  the  pleasure,  joy,  and  happiness  of  an  intelligent 
being.  God  is  love,  and  love  is  his  image  upon  the  soul.  Where  it 
is,  the  soul  is  well  moulded,  and  the  heart  fitted  for  every  good  work.' 
Henry^s  Exposition  on  Rom.  xiii.  10. — Again  :  "  It  is  well  for  us  thatj 
by  virtue  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  upon  the  score  of  Christ's 
righteousness,  sincerity  is  accepted  as  our  Gospel  perfection."  Henry 
on  Gen.  vi.  2. — [See  the  note  on  the  word  perfection,  Sect.  I.] 

Pious  Bishop  Hopkins  is  exactly  of  the  same  mind.  "  Consider,'" 
says  he,  "  for  your  encouragement,  that  this  is  not  so  much  the  absolute 
and  legal  perfection  of  the  work,  as  the  [evangelical]  perfection  of 
the  worker,  that  is,  the  perfection  of  the  heart,  which  is  looked  at 
and  rewarded  by  ^od.  There  is  a  two-fold  perfection,  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  work,  and  that  of  the  workman.  The  perfection  of  the 
work  is,  when  the  work  does  so  exactly  and  strictly  answer  the  holy 
law  of  God,  that  there  is  no  irregularity  in  it.  The  perfection  of  the 
workman  is  nothing  but  inward  sincerity  and  uprightness  of  the  heart 
towards  God,  which  may  be  where  there  are  many  imperfections  and 
defects  intermingled.  If  God  accepted  and  rewarded  no  work,  but 
what  is  absolutely  perfect  in  respect  of  the  law  ;  this  would  take  ofl' 


166  THE    LAST    CHECK. 

tlie  wheels  ofali  endeavours,  for  our  obedience  falls  far  short  of  legal 
perfection  in  this  life  ;'■  [the  Adamic  law  making  no  allowance  for  the 
•weakness  of  fallen  man.]  *'  But  we  do  not  stand  upon  such  terms  as 
these  with  our  God.  It  is  not  so  much  what  our  works  are  as  what 
our  heart  is,  that  God  looks  at  and  will  reward.  Yet  know,  also,  that 
if  our  hearts  are  perfect  and  sincere,  we  shall  endeavour,  to  the 
utmost  of  our  power,  that  our  works  may  be  perfect  according  to  the 
strictness  of  the  law." 

Archbishop  Leighion  pleads  also  for  the  perfection  we  maintain, 
and  by  Calvinistically  supposing  that  perseverance  is  necessary  to 
Christian  perfection,  he  extols  it  above  Adam's  paradisiacal  per- 
fection. Take  his  own  words  abridged  :  "  By  obedience  sanctificatioa 
is  here  intimated  :  it  signifies  both  habitual  and  actual  obedience, 
renovation  of  the  heart,  and  conformity  to  the  divine  will :  the  mind 
is  illuminated  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  know  and  believe  the  Divine  will  ; 
yea,  this  faiih  is  the  great  and  chief  part  of  this  obedience,  Rom.  i. 
8.  The  truth  of  the  doctrine  is  impressed  upon  the  mind,  hence 
flows  out  pleasant  obedience  and  full  [he  does  not  say  of  sin,  but] 
of  love  :  hence  all  the  aflfections,  and  the  whole  body,  with  its  mem- 
bers, learn  to  give  a  willing  obedience,  and  submit  to  God;  whereas' 
before  they  resisted  him,  being  under  the  standard  of  Satan.  This 
obedience,  though  imperfect  [when  it  is  measured  by  the  Christless  law 
of  paradisiacal  innocence]  yet  has  a  certain,  if  I  may  so  say,  imperfect 
perfection.  [It  is  not  legally  but  evangelically  perfect.]  It  is  uni- 
versal [or  perfect]  three  manner  of  ways  ;  1.  In  the  subject : — It  is 
not  in  the  tongue  alone,  or  in  the  hand,  &c.  but  has  its  root  in  the 
heart. — 2.  In  the  object : — It  embraces  the  whole  law,  &c.  It 
accounts  no  command  little,  which  is  from  God,  because  he  is  great 
and  highly  esteemed  :  no  command  hard,  though  contrary  to  the  flesh, 
because  all  things  are  easy  to  love  ;  there  is  the  same  authority  in 
all,  as  St.  James  divinely  argues.  And  this  authority  is  the  golden 
chain  to  all  the  commandments  [of  the  law  of  liberty  preached  by  St. 
James]  which,  if  broke  in  any  link,  falls  to  pieces. — 3.  In  the  duration, 
the  svhole  man  is  subjected  to  the  whole  law,  and  that  constantly. 
That  this  threefold  perfection  of  obedience  is  not^§  picture  drawn  by 
fancy,  is  evident  in  David,  Psalm  cxix."  Archbishop  Leighton^s  Com, 
on  St.  Peter,  page  16. 

That  learned  prelate,  as  a  pious  man,  could  not  but  be  a  perfection- 
ist;. {hough,  as  a  Calvinist,  he  frequently  spoke  the  language  of  the 
imperfectionists.  Take  one  more  quotation,  where  he  grants  all  that 
we  contend  for.  "  To  be  subject  to  him  [God]  is  truer  happiness 
than  to  conimaad  the  whole  world.     Pure  love  reckons  thus,  though 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  167 

no  farther  reward  were  to  follow  ;  obedience  to  God  [the  perfection 
of  his  creature,  and  its  very  happiness]  carries  its  full  recompense  in 
its  own  bosom.  Yea,  love  delights  most  in  the  hardest  services,  kc. 
It  is  love  to  him,  indeed,  to  love  the  labour  of  love,  and  the  service 
of  it :  and  that  not  so  much  because  it  leads  to  rest,  and  ends  in  it, 
but  because  it  is  service  to  him  whom  we  love  :  yea,  that  labour  is 
in  itself  a  rest ;  it  is  so  natural  and  sweet  to  a  soul  that  loves.  As 
the  revolution  of  the  heavens,  which  is  a  motion  ir>  rest,  and  rest  in 
motion,  changes  not  place,  though  running  still,  so  the  motion  of  love 
is  truly  heavenly »  and  circular  still  in  God  ;  beginning  in  him,  and 
ending  in  him  ;  and  so  not  ending,  but  moving  still  without  weariness, 
&c.  According  as  the  love  is,  so  is  the  soul  :  it  is  made  like  to,  yea, 
it  is  made  one  with  that  which  it  loves,  kc.  By  the  love  of  God  it  is 
made  divine,  is  one  with  him,  &c.  Now,  though  fiillen  from  this,  we 
are  invited  to  it ;  though  degenerated  and  accursed  in  our  sinful 
nature,  yet  we  are  renewed  in  Christ,  and  this  commandment  is 
renewed  in  him,  and  a  new  way  of  fulfilling  it  [even  the  way  of  faith  in 
our  Redeemer]  is  pointed  out."  Select  Works  of  Archh.Leighton^  page 
461. — Where  has  Mr.  Wesley  ever  exceeded  this  high  description  of 
Christian  perfection  ? 

I  grant  that  this  pious  prelate  frequently  confounds  our  celestial 
perfection  of  glory  with  our  progressive  perfection  of  grace,  and  on 
that  account  supposes  that  the  latter  is  not  attainable  in  this  life  :  but 
even  then  he  exhorts  us  to  quit  ourselves  like  sincere  perfectionists. 
"  Though  men,"  says  he,  "  fall  short  of  their  aim,  yet  it  is  good  to 
aim  high  :  they  shall  shoot  so  much  the  higher,  though  not  full  so 
high  as  they  aim.  Thus  we  ought  to  be  setting  the  state  of  per- 
fection in  our  eye,  resolving*  not  to  rest  content  below  that,  and  to 
come  as  near  it  as  we  can,  even  before  we  come  at  it.  Phil.  iii.  11, 
12.  This  is  to  act  as  one  that  has  such  a  hope,  such  a  state  in  view, 
and  is  still  advancing  towards  it."  Ibid,  page  184.  The  mistake  of 
the  Archbishop  will  be  particularly  pointed  out,  where  I  shall  show 
the  true  meaning  of  Phil.  iii.  11 — the  passage,  behind  which  he 
skreens  the  remains  of  his  Calvkiian  prejudices. 

*  I  think  I  have  said  in  one  of  the  Cheeks,  that  Archbishop  Leighton  doubted  wliether 
those,  who  do  not  sincerely  aspire  after  perfection,  have  saving  grace  :  that  doubt,  (if  I 
now  remember  right)  is  Mr.  Alleine's,  though  this  quotation  from  the  Archbishop  shows, 
that  he  was  not  far  from  Alleine^s  sentiment,  if  he  was  not  in  it.  Pious  Dr.  Doddridge  is 
explicit  on  this  head,  "To  allow  yourself,"  said  he,  "deliberately  to  sit  down  satisfied 
with  any  imperfect  attainments  in  religion,  and  to  look  upon  a  more  confirmed  and  im- 
proved state  of  it  as  what  you  do  not  desire,  nay,  as  what  you  secretly  resolve  that  you  will 
not  pursue,  is  one  of  the  most  fatal  signs  we  can  well  imagine,  that  you  are  an  entire 
stranger  to  the  first  principles  of  it." — Doddridge's  Rise  and  Frog.  Chap.  xi. 


168  THE  LAST  CHECK 

By  the  preceding;  quotations,  and  by  two  more  from  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Wkitefield  and  Romaine,  which  the  reader  will  find  at  the  end 
of  Sect.  IX.  it  appears,  that  pious  Calvinists  come  at  times  very  near 
the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  ;  and  if  they  do  not  constantly 
enforce  it,  it  is,  we  apprehend,  chiefly  for  the  following  reasons. 

1.  They  generally  confound  the  Christless  law  of  innocence  with 
the  evangelical  law  of  Christ ;  and  because  the  former  cannot  be  ful- 
filled by  believers,  they  conclude  that  pure  obedience  to  the  latter. is 
impracticable. 

2,  They  confound  peccability  withsm; — the  power  of  sinning,  with 
the  actual  cause  of  that  power.  And  so  long  as  they  suppose,  that  a 
bare  natural  capacity  to  sin  is  either  original  sin,  or  an  evil  propen- 
sity, we  do  not  wonder  at  their  believing  that  original  sin,  or  evil  pro- 
pensities, must  remain  in  our  hearts  till  death  removes  us  from  this 
tempting  world.  But  on  what  argument  do  they  found  this  notion  ? 
Did  not  God  create  angels  and  man  peccable  ?  Or  in  other  terms.  Did 
he  not  endue  them  with  a  power  to  sin,  or  not  to  sin,  to  disobey  or 
obey  as  they  pleased  ?  Did  not  the  event  show  that  they  had  this  tre- 
mendous power  ?  But  would  it  not  be  "blasphemous"  to  assert,  that 
God  created  them  full  of  original  sin,  and  of  evil  propensities  ? — If 
an  adult  believer  yields  to  temptation,  and  falls  into  sin  as  our  first 
parents  did,  is  it  a  proof  that  he  never  was  cleansed  from  inbred  sin  ? 
■ — If  sinning  necessarily  demonstrates  that  the  heart  was  always  teem- 
ing with  depravity,  will  it  not  follow  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  tainted 
with  sin  before  their  will  began  to  decline  from  original  righteousness  ? 
Is  it  not,  however,  indubitable  from  the  nature  of  God,  from  Scrip- 
ture, and  from  sad  experience,  that  after  having  been  created  in  God's 
sinless  image,  and  holy  likeness,  our  first  parents,  as  well  as  some 
angels,  were  drawn  awny  of  their  own  self-conceited  /ws^,  and  became 
evil  by  the  power  of  their  own  free  agency  ? — Is  it  reasonable  to 
think  that  the  most  holy  Christians,  so  long  as  the  day  of  their  visita- 
tion anil  probation  lasts  in  this  tempting  wilderness,  are  in  that  respect 
above  Adam  in  paradise,  and  above  angels  in  heaven  ?  And  may  we 
not  conclude,  th^t  as  Satan  and  Adam  insensibly  fell  into  sin,  the  one 
from  the  height  of  hi^  celestial  perfection,  and  the  other  from  the  sum- 
mit of  his  paradisiacal  excellence,  without  any  previous  bias  inclining 
him  to  corruption  :  so  may  those  believers,  whose  hearts  have  been 
completely  pur-find  by  faith,  gradually  depart  from  the  faith,  and  fall 
so  low  as  to  account  the  blood  of  the  covenant^  wherewith  they  were 
sanctified^  an  unholy  thing  ? 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  169 

3.  The  prejudices  of  our  opponents  are  increased  by  their  con- 
founding Adamic*  and  Christian  perfection  ;  two  perfections  these, 
which  are  as  distinct  as  the  Garden  of  Eden  and  the  Christian 
Church.  Adamic  perfection  came  from  God  our  Creator  in  Paradise, 
before  any  trial  of  Adam's  faithful  obedience  :  and  Christian  perfec- 
tion comes  from  God  our  Redeemer  and  Sanctifier,  in  the  Christian 
Church,  after  a  severe  trial  of  the  obedience  of  faith.  Adamic  per- 
fection might  be  lost  by  doing  despite  to  the  preserving  love  of  God 
our  Creator  ;  and  Christian  perfection  may  be  lost  by  doing  despite  to 
the  redeeming  love  of  God  our  Saviour.  Adamic  perfection  extended 
to  the  whole  man  :  his  bodj^  was  perfectly  sound  in  all  its  parts,  and 
his  soul  in  all  its  powers.  But  Christian  perfection  extends  chiefly 
to  the  will^  which  is  the  capital,  moral  power  of  the  soul ;  leaving  the 
understanding  ignorant  of  ten  thousand  things,  and  the  body  dead 
because  of  sin. 

4.  Another  capital  mistake  lies  at  the  root  of  the  opposition  which 
our  Calvinian  brethren  make  against  Christian  perfection.  They 
imagine  that,  upon  our  principles,  the  grace  of  an  adult  Christian, 
is  like  the  body  of  an  adult  man,  which  can  grow  no  more.  But  this 
consequence  flows  from  their  fancy,  and  not  from  our  doctrine.  We 
exhort  the  strongest  believers  to  g7'ow  up  to  Christ  in  nil  things:  as- 
serting that  there  is  no  holiness,  and  no  happiness  in  heaven  [much 
less  upon  earth]  which  does  not  admit  of  a  growth,  except  the  hohness 
and  happiness  of  God  himself;  because,  in  the  very  nature  of  things, 
a  being  absolutely  perfect,  and  in  every  sense  infinite,  can  never  have 
any  thing  added  to  him.  But  infinite  additions  may  be  made  to  beings 
every  way  finite,  such  as  glorified  saints  and  holy  angels  are. 

Hence  it  appears,  that  the  comparison  which  we  make  between  the 
ripeness  of  a  fruit,  and  the  maturity  of  a  believer's  grace,  cannot  be 


*  Between  Adamic  and  Christian  perfection,  we  place  the  gracious  innocence  of  little 
children.  They  are  not  only  full  of  peccability  like  Adam,  but  debilitated  in  all  Iheir  ani- 
mal and  rational  faculties,  and  of  coasequence,  fit  to  become  an  easy  prey  to  every  tempta- 
tion, through  the  weakness  of  their  reason,  and  the  corruption  of  their  concupiscible  and 
irascible  powers.  Nevertheless,  till  they  begin  personally  to  prefer  moral  evil  to  moral 
good,  we  may  consider  them  as  evangelically  or  graciously  innocent.  I  say  graciously 
innocent,  because  if  we  consider  them  in  the  seed  of  fallen  Adam,  we  find  them  naturally 
children  of  wrath,  and  under  the  curse  ;  but  if  we  consider  them  in  the  seed  of  the  tvoman, 
which  was  promised  to  Adam  and  to  his  posterity,  we  find  them  graciously  placed  in  a 
state  of  redemption,  and  evangelical  salvation.  For  the  free  gift,  which  is  come  upon  all 
men  to  justifcation,  belongs  first  to  them,  Christ  having  sanctified  infancy  first.  And 
therefore  we  do  not  scruple  to  say,  after  our  Lord,  Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Now  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  of  sinners  as  sinners  ;  but  of  little  Lhildren,  as  beintj 
innocent  through  the  free  gift ;  or  of  adults,  as  being  penitent,  that  is,  tiarned  frotn  their 
sins  to  Christ. 

Vol.  IV.  ?o 


170  THE  LAST  CHECK 

carried  into  an  exact  parallel. — For  a  perfect  Christian  grows  far 
more  than  a  feeble  believer,  whose  growth  is  still  obstructed  by  the 
shady  thorns  of  sin,  and  by  the  draining  suckers  of  iniquity. — Besides^, 
a  fruit  which  is  come  to  its  perfection,  instead  of  growing,  falls  and 
decays  :  whereas  b.  babe  in  Christ  is  called  to  grow  till  he  becomes  a 
perfect  Christian; — a  perfect  Christian,  till  he  becomes  a  disembodied 
spirit ; — a  disembodied  spirit,  till  he  reaches  the  perfection  of  a  sai7U 
glorified  in  body  and  soul ; — and  such  a  saint,  till  he  has  fathomed  the 
infinite  depths  of  divine  perfection,  that  is,  to  all  eternity.  For  if  we 
go  on  from  faith  to  faith^  and  are  spiritually  changed  from  glory  to 
glory,  by  beholding  God  darkly  through  a  glass  on  earth  ;  much  more 
shall  we  experience  improving  changes,  when  we  shall  see  Him  as  he 
is,  and  behold  h'lmface  to  face  in  various,  numberless,  and  still  brighter 
discoveries  of  himself  in  heaven.  If  Mr.  Hill  did  but  consider  this, 
he  would  no  more  suppose  that  Christian  perfection  is  the  Pharisaic 
rickets,  which  put  a  stop  to  the  growth  of  believers,  and  turn  them 
into  "  temporary  monsters."     Again  ; 

Does  a  well-meant  mistake  defile  the  conscience  ? — You  inadvert- 
ently  encourage  idleness  and  drunkenness,  by  kindly  relieving  an 
idle  drunken  beggar,  who  imposes  upon  your  charity  by  plausible 
lies  :  is  this  loving  error  a  sin  ? — A  blundering  apothecary  sends  you 
arsenic  for  allura  ;  you  use  it  as  allum,  and  poison  your  child  ;  but 
are  you  a  murderer  if  you  give  the  fatal  dose  in  love? — Suppose  the 
tempter  had  secretly  mixed  some  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  with  other 
fruits  that  Eve  had  lawfully  gathered  for  use  ;  would  she  have 
sinned  if  she  had  inadvertently  eaten  of  it,  and  given  a  share  to  her 
husband? — After  humbly  confessing  and  deploring  her  undesigned 
error,  her  secret  fault,  her  accidental  offence,  her  involuntary  tres- 
pass ;  would  she  not  have  been  as  innocent  as  ever  ? — I  go  farther 
still,  and  ask :  may  not  a  man  who  holds  many  right  opinions,  be  a 
perfect  lover  of  the  world  ?  And  by  a  parity  of  reason,  may  not  a  man 
who  holds  many  wrong  opinions  be  a  perfect  lover  of  God?  Have 
not  some  Calvinists  died  with  their  hearts  overflowing  with  perfect 
love,  and  their  heads  full  of  the  notion,  that  God  set  his  everlasting, 
absolute  hatred  upon  myriads  of  men  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world  ? — Nay,  is  it  not  even  possible,  that  a  man  whose  heart  is 
renewed  in  love,  should,  through  mistaken  humility,  or  through  weak- 
ness  of  understandings  oppose  the  name  of  Christian  perfection,  when 
he  desires,  and  perhaps  enjoys  the  thing? 

Once  more  :  does  not  St.  Paul's  rule  hold  in  spirituals  as  well  as 
in  temporals  :  It  is  accepted  according  to  what  a  man  hath,  and  not 
according  to  what  he  hath  not  ?  Does  our  Lord  actually  require  more 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  171 

ot  believers  than  they  can  actually  do  through  his  grace.  And  when 
they  do  it  to  the  best  of  their  power,  does  he  not  see  some  perfection 
m  their  works,  insiffnificant  as  those  works  may  be? — Remove  this 
immense  heap  of  stones,  says  an  indulgent  father  to  his  children  ;  and 
be  diligent  according  to  your  strength.  While  the  eldest,  a  strong 
man,  removes  rocks,  the  youngest,  a  little  child,  i*=  as  cheerfully  busy 
as  any  of  the  rest,  in  carrying  sands  and  pebbles.  Now,  may  not  his 
childlike  obedience  be  as  excellent  in  its  degree,  and  of  consequence, 
as  acceptable  to  his  parent,  as  the  manly  obedience  of  his  eldest 
brother  ? — Nay,  though  he  does  next  to  nothing,  may  not  his  endea- 
vours, if  they  are  more  cordial,  excite  a  smile  of  superior  approbation 
of  his  loving  Father,  who  looks  at  the  disposition  of  the  heart  more 
than  at  the  appearance  of  the  work  ?  Had  the  believers  of  Sardis 
cordially  laid  out  all  their  talents,  would  our  Lord  have  complained 
that  he  did  noi find  their  works  perfect  before  God  ?  Rev.  iii.  2.  And 
was  it  not  according  to  this  rule  of  perfection,  that  Christ  testified, 
the  poor  widow,  who  had  given  but  two  mites,  had  nevertheless  cast 
more  into  the  treasury  than  all  the  rich,  though  they  had  cast  in 
much:  because  our  Lord  himself  being  judge,  she  hnd  given  all  that 
she  had?  Now  could  she  give,  or  did  God  require,  more  than  her  all  ? 
And  when  she  thus  heartily  gave  her  all,  did  she  not  do  (evangeli- 
cally speaking)  a  perfect  work,  according  to  her  dispensation  and  cir- 
cumstances ? 

We  flatter  ourselves,  that  if  these  scriptural  observations,  and 
rational  queries,  do  not  remove  Mr.  HilVs  prejtidice,  they  will  at 
least  make  way  for  a  more  candid  perusal  of  the  following  pages. 


SECTION  Hi. 

Several  Objections  raised  against  ow^ Doctrine  are  solved  merely  by 
considering  the  nature  of  Christian  Perfection. — It  is  absurd  to  say, 
that  all  our  Christian  Perfection  is  in  the  person  of  Christ. 

I  REPEAT  it,  if  our  pious  opponents  decry  the  doctrine  of  Christian 
Perfection,  it  is  chietly  through  misapprehension  ;  it  being  as  natural 
for  pious  men  to  recommend  exalted  piety,  as  for  covetous  persons  to 
extol  great  riches.  And  this  misapprehension  frequently  springs 
from  their  inattention  to  the  nature  of  Christian  perfection.  To 
prove  it,  I  need  only  oppose  our  definition  of  Christian  perfection 
to  the  objections  whirh  are  most  commonly  raised  against  our 
doctrine. 


172  THE    LAST    CHECK 

I.  *'  Your  doctrine  of  perfection  leads  to  pride,'' — Impossible  !  if 
Christian  perfection  is  *^  perfect  humility. '^^ 

II.  "  \i  exalts  believers  ;  but  it  is  only  to  the  state  of  the  vain- 
glorious Pharisee." — Impossible!  If  our  perfection  is  ^^ perfect 
humility, ''^  it  makes  us  sink  deeper  into  the  state  of  the  humble,  justi- 
fied publican. 

III.  ''  It  fills  men  with  the  conceit  of  their  own  excellence,  and 
makes  them  say  to  a  weak  brother,  Stand  by,  lam  holier  than  thou.''^ — 
Impossible  again !  We  do  not  preach  Pharisaic,  but  Christian  per- 
fection, which  consists  in  ^^  perfect  poverty  of  spirit,^^  and  in  that 

^^  perfect  charity, ^^  which  vaunteth  not  itself,  honours  all  men,  and  bears 
with  the  infirmities  of  the  weak  ! 

IV.  *' It  sets  repentance  aside." — Impossible!  for  it  is  ^^ perfect 
repentance, ^^ 

V.  "  It  will  make  us  slight  Christ." — More  and  more  improbable! 
How  can  ^^  perfect  faith''''  in  Christ  make  us  slight  Christ?  Could  it 
be  more  absurd  to  say,  that  the  perfect  love  of  God  will  make  us 
despise  God  ? 

VI.  "  It  will  supersede  the  use  of  mortification  and  watchfulness  ; 
for,  if  sin  be  dead,  what  need  have  we  to  mortify  it,  and  to  watch 
against  it." 

This  objection  has  some  plausibility  ;  I  shall  therefore  answer  it 
various  ways.  1.  If  Adam,  in  his  state  of  paradisiacal  perfection, 
peeded  perfect  watchfulness  and  perfect  mortification,  how  much 
more  do  we  need  them,  who  find  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  planted,  not  only  in  the  midst  of  our  gardens,  but  in  the  midst 
of  our  houses,  markets,  and  churches  ? — 2.  When  we  are  delivered 
from  sin,  are  we  delivered  from  peccability  and  temptation  ?  When  the 
inward  man  of  sin  is  dead,  is  the  devil  dead  ?  Is  the  corruption  that 
is  in  the  world  destroyed  ?  And  have  we  not  still  our  five  senses, 
and  our  appetites,  to  keep  with  all  diligence,  as  well  as  our  hearts,  that 
the  tempter  may  net  enter  into  us,  or  that  we  may  not  enter  into  his 
temptations  ? — Lastly,  Jesus  Christ,  as  son  of  Mary,  was  a  perfect 
man.  But  how  was  he  kept  so  to  the  end  ? — Was  it  not  by  keeping  his 
mouth  with  a  bridle,  while  the  ungodly  were  in  his  sight,  and  by  guard- 
ing all  his  senses  with  perfect  assiduity,  that  the  wicked  one  might 
not  touch  them  to  his  hurt  ?  And  if  Christ  our  head  kept  his  human 
perfection  only  through  watchfulness  and  constant  self-denial ;  is  it 
not  absurd  to  suppose,  that  his  perfect  members  can  keep  their  per- 
fection without  treading  in  his  steps. 

VII.  Another  objection  probably  stands  in  Mr.  HiWs  way  :  it  runs 
thus :  "  Your  doctrine  of  perfection  qiakes  it  needless   for  perfect 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  175 

Christians  to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer ;  for  if  God  vouchsafes  to  keep 
us  this  day  without  «in,  we  shall  have  no  need  to  pray  at  night  that 
God  would  forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  rue  forgive  them  that  trespass 
against  «s." 

We  answer,  1.  Though  a  perfect  Christian  does  not  trespass 
voluntarily,  and  break  the  law  of  love,  yet  he  daily  breaks  the  law 
of  Adamic  perfection,  through  the  imperfection  of  his  bodily  and 
mental  powers :  and  he  has  frequently  a  deeper  sense  of  these  invo- 
luntary trespasses,  than  many  weak  believers  have  of  their  voluntary 
breaches  of  the  moral  law. — t.  Although  a  perfect  Christian  has  a 
witness  that  his  sins  are  now  forgiven  in  the  court  of  his  conscience, 
yet  he  kno^vs  the  terrors  of  the  Lord:  he  hastens  to  meet  the  awful 
day  of  God  :  he  waits  for  the  appearance  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
in  the  character  of  a  righteous  Judge  :  he  keeps  an  eye  to  the  awful 
tribunal,  before  which  he  must  soon  be  justified  or  condemned  by  his 
words  :  he  is  conscious  that  his  final  justification  is  not  yet  come  ;  and 
therefore  he  would  think  himself  a  monster  of  stupidity  and  pride, 
if,  with  an  eye  to  his  absolution  in  the  great  day,  he  scrupled  saying 
to  the  end  of  his  life,  Forgive  us  our  trespasses. -^3.  He  is  surrounded 
with  sinners,  who  daily  trespass  against  him,  and  whom  he  is  daily 
bound  to  forgive ;  and  his  praying  that  he  may  be  forgiven  now,  and 
in  the  great  day,  as  he  forgives  others,  reminds  him  that  he  may  forfeit 
his  pardon,  and  binds  him  more  and  more  to  the  performance  of  the 
important  duty  of  forgiving  his  enemies. — And  4.  His  charity  is  so 
ardent  that  it  melts  him,  as  it  were,  into  the  common  mass  of  man- 
kind. Bowing  himself,  therefore,  under  the  enormous  load  of  all  the 
wilful  trespasses  which  his  fellow-mortals,  and  particularly  his  rela- 
tives and  his  brethren,  daily  commit  against  God,  he  says  with  a  fer- 
vour that  imperfect  Christians  seldom  feel,  Forgive  us  our  trespasses, 
&c. — We  are  heartily  sorry  for  our  misdoings  (my  own,  and  those  of 
my  fellow-sinners  :)  the  remembrance  of  them  is  grievous  unto  us:  the 
burthen  of  them  is  intolerable.  Nor  do  we  doubt,  but,  when  the  spirit 
of  mourning  leads  a  numerous  assembly  of  supplicants  into  the  vale 
of  humiliation,  the  person  who  puts  the  shoulder  of  faith  most  readily 
to  the  common  burden  of  sin,  and  heaves  the  most  powerfully  in 
order  to  roll  the  enormous  load  into  the  Redeemer's  grave,  is  the 
most  perfect  penitent — the  most  exact  observer  of  the  apostolic  pre- 
cept. Bear  ye  one  anotherh  burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the  lazu  of  Christ ; 
and,  of  consequence,  we  do  not  scruple  to  say,  that  such  a  person  is 
the  most  perfect  Christian  in  the  whole  assembly. 

If  Mr.  Hill  consider  these  answers,  we  doubt  not  but  he  will  con- 
fess that.his  opposition  to  Christian  perfection  chiefly  springs  from  his 


1^4  THE    LAST   CHECK 

inattention  to  our  definition  of  it,  which  I  once  more  sum  up  in  these 
comprehensiye  lines  of  Mr.  Wesley  : 

O  let  me  gain  Perfection's  height!  > 

O  let  me  into  nothing  fall! 
(As  less  than  nothing  in  thy  sight) 

And  feel  that  Christ  is  all  in  all ! 

VIII.  Our  opponents  produce  another  plausible  objection,  which 
runs  thus: — "  It  is  plain  from  your  account  of  Christian  perfection, 
that  adult  believers  are  free  from  sin:  their  hearts  being  purified  by 
perfect  faith,  and  filled  with  perfect  love.  Now  sin  is  that  which 
humbles  us,  and  drives  us  to  Christ,  and  therefore,  if  we  were  free 
from  indwelling  sin,  we  should  lose  a  most  powerful  incentive  to 
humility,  which  is  the  greatest  ornament  of  a  true  Christian." 

We  answer  :  Sin  never  humbled  any  soul.  Who  has  more  sin  than 
Satan?  And  who  is  prouder? — Did  sin  make  our  first  parents  hum- 
ble ?  If  it  did  not,  how  do  our  brethren  suppose  that  its  nature  is 
altered  for  the  better  ? — who  was  humbler  than  Christ  ?  but  was  he 
indebted  to  sin  for  his  humility  ? — Do  we  not  see  daily,  that  the  more 
sinful  men  are,  the  prouder  they  are  also  ! — Did  Mr.  Hill  never  ob- 
serve, that  the  holier  a  believer  is,  the  humbler  he  shows  himself? — 
And  what  is  holiness,  but  the  reverse  of  sin? — If  sin  be  necessary  to 
make  us  humble,  and  to  keep  us  near  Christ ;  does  it  not  follow  that 
glorified  saints,  whom  all  acknowledge  to  be  sinless,  are  all  proud 
despisers  of  Christ  ? — If  humility  is  obedience,  and  if  sin  is  disobe- 
dience, is  it  not  as  absurd  to  say  that  sin  will  make  us  humble,  i.  e.  obe- 
dient ;  as  it  is  to  affirm  that  rebellisn  will  make  us  loyal,  and  adultery 
chaste? — See  we  not  sin  enough,  when  we  look  ten  or  twenty  years 
back,  to  humble  us  to  the  dust  for  ever,  if  sin  can  do  it  ?— Need  we 
plead  for  any  more  of  it  in  our  hearts  and  lives  ?•*— If  the  sins  of  our 
youth  do  not  humble  us,  are  the  sins  of  our  old  age  likely  to  do  it  ?— 
If  we  contend  for  the  life  of  the  man  of  sin,  that  he  may  subdue  our 
pride  ;  do  we  not  take  a  large  stride  after  those  who  s^y,  "  Let  us 
sin  that  grace  may  abound.  Let  us  continue  full  of  indwelling  sin,  that 
humility  may  increase  ?" — W^hat  is,  after  all,  the  evangelical  method 
of  getting  humility  ?  Is  it  not  to  look  at  Christ  in  the  manger,  in 
Gethsemane,  or  on  the  cross  ;  to  consider  him  when  he  washes  his 
disciples'  feet ;  and  obediently  listen  to  him  when  he  says.  Learn  of 
me  to  be  meek  and  lowly  in  heart  ? — Where  does  the  Gospel  plead  the 
cause  of  the  Barabbas,  and  the  thieves  within  ?  Where  does  it  say, 
that  they  may  indeed  be  nailed  to  the  cross,  and  have  their  legs 
broken;   but  that  their  life  must  be  left  whole  within  them,  lest  we 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  175 

should  be  proud  of  their  death  ? — Lastly,  what  is  indwelling  sio  but 
indwelling  pride  ?  At  least  is  not  inbred  pride  one  of  the  chief 
ingredients  of  indwelling  sin  ?  And  how  can  pride  be  productive  of 
humility  ?  Can  a  serpent  beget  a  dove  ?  And  will  not  men  gather  grapes 
from  thorns,  sooner  than  humility  of  heart  from  haughtiness  of  spirit  ? 

IX.  The  strange  mij?take  which  I  detect  would  not  be  so  prevalent 
among  our  prejudiced  brethren,  if  they  were  not  deceived  by  the 
plausibility  of  the  following  argument.  "  When  believers  are  hum- 
bled/or a  thing,  they  are  humbled  by  it:    but  believers  are  humbled 

for  sin  ;  and  therefore  they  are  humbled  by  sin." 

The  flaw  of  this  argument  is  in  the  first  proposition.  We  readily 
grant  that  penitents  are  humbled  for  sin  ;  or  in  other  terms,  that  they 
humbly  repent  of  sin  :  but  we  deny  that  they  are  humbled  by  sin. 
To  show  the  absurdity  of  the  whole  argument,  I  need  only  produce 
a  sophism  exactly  parallel.  "  When  people  are  blooded  for  a  thing, 
they  are  blooded  by  it  :  but  people  are  sometimes  blooded /or  a  cold  : 
and  therefore  people  are  sometimes  blooded  by  a  cold." 

X.  "  We  do  not  assert  that  all  perfection  is  imaginary.  Our  mean- 
ing is,  that  all  Christian  perfection  is  in  Christ ;  and  that  we  are  per- 
fect in  his  person,  and  not  in  our  own." 

Answer.  If  you  mean  by  our  h^iwg  perfect  only  in  Christ,  that  we 
can  attain  to  Christian  perfection  no  other  way  than  by  being  per- 
fectly grafted  m /tzm,  i^e  irwe  Fme;  and  by  deriving,  like  vigorous 
branches,  the  perfect  sap  of  his  perfect  righteousness,  to  enable  us  to 
bring  forth  fruit  unto  perfection;  we  are  entirely  agreed  :  for  we 
perpetually  assert,  that  nothing  but  Christ  in  us  the  hope  of  glory, 
nothing  but  Christ  dwelling  in  our  hearts  by  faith,  or  which  is  all  one, 
nothing  but  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  can  make  us 
free  from  the  law  of  sin,  and  perfect  us  in  love. 

But,  as  we  never  advanced  that  Christian  perfection  is  attainable 
any  other  way,  than  by  a  faith  that  roots  and  grounds  us  in  Christ ;  we 
doubt  some  mystery  of  iniquity  lies  hid  under  the  equivocal  phrases, 
"  All  our  perfection  is  in  Christ's  person : — We  are  perfect  in  him,  and 
not  in  ourselves." 

Should  those  who  use  them  insinuate  by  such  language,  that  we 
need  not,  cannot  be  perfect,  by  an  inherent  personal  conformity  to 
God's  holiness,  because  Christ  is  thus  perfect  for  us  :  or  should  they 
mean,  that  we  are  perfect  in  /<7m,  just  as  country  freeholders,  entirely 
strangers  to  state  affairs,  are  perfect  politicians  in  the  knights  of  the 
shire  who  represent  them  in  parliament ; — as  the  sick  in  a  hospital, 
are  perfectly  healthy  in  the  physician  that  gives  them  his  attendance  : 
as  the  blind  man  enjoyed  perfect  sight  in  Christ  when  he  saw  walking 


176  THE  LAST  CHECK 

men  like  moving  irees:— as  the  filthy  leper  was  perfectly  clean  in  our 
Lord,  before  he  had  felt  the  power  of  Christ's  gracious  words,  I  will ^ 
be  thou  clean : — or  as  hungry  Lazarus  was  perfectly  fed  in  the  person 
of  the  rich  man,  at  whose  gate  he  lay  starving — should  this,  I  say,  be 
their  meaning,  we  are  in  conscience  bound  to  oppose  it,  for  the  rea- 
sons contained  in  the  following  queries. 

1.  If  believers  are  perfect,  because  Christ  is  perfect  for  them,  why 
does  the  apostle  exhort  them  to  go  on  to  perfection  ? 

2.  If  all  our  perfection  be  inherent  in  Christ,  is  it  not  strange,  that 
St.  Paul  should  exhort  us  to  perfect  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God^  by 
cleansing  ourselves  from  all  Jilthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit  ?  Did  not 
Christ  perfect  his  own  holiness  ?  And  will  his  personal  sanctity  be 
imperfect  till  we  have  cleansed  ourselves  from  all  defilement  ? 

3.  If  Christ  be  perfect  for  us,  why  does  St,  James  say,  Let  patience 
have  her  perfect  work,  that  ye  may  be  perfect  ?  Is  Christ's  perfection 
suspended  upon  the  per/cd  work  of  our  patience  ? 

4.  Upon  the  scheme  which  I  oppose,  what  does  St.  Peter  mean^ 
when  he  says,  After  ye  have  suffered  awhile^  the  Lord  make  you  per- 
fect ?  What  has  our  suffering  awhile  to  do  with  Christ's  perfection  ; 
Was  not  Christ  made  perfect  through  his  own  sifferings  ? 

6.  If  believers  were  perfect  in  Christ's  person,  they  would  all  be 
equally  perfect.  But  is  this  the  case  ?  Does  not  St.  John  talk  of  some 
who  are  perfected,  and  of  others  who  are  not  yet  made  perfect  in  love  ? 
Besides,  the  apostle  exhorts  us  to  be  perfect,  not  in  Antinomian 
notions,  but  in  all  the  reill  of  God,  and  in  every  good  work ;  and  com- 
mon sense  dictates,  that  there  is  some  diflference  between  our  good 
works  and  the  person  of  Christ. 

6.  Does  not  our  Lord  himself  show,  that  his  personal  righteousness 
will  by  no  means  be  accepted  instead  of  our  personal  perfection, 
where  he  says,  "  Every  branch  in  me  that  beareth  not  fruit  (or  whose 
fruit  never  grows  to  any  perfection.  See  Luke  viii.  14.)  My  Father 
takeih  it  away,^^  far  from  imputing  it  to  his  perfect  fruitfulness  ? 

7.  In  the  nature  of  things,  can  Christ's  perfection  supply  the  want 
of  that  perfection  which  he  calls  us  to  ?  Is  there  not  a  more  essential 
difference  between  Christ's  perfection  and  that  of  a  believer,  than 
there  is  between  the  perfection  of  a  rose  and  that  of  the  grass  of  the 
field  ? — between  the  perfection  of  a  soaring  eagle  and  that  of  a  creep 
ing  insect  ? — If  our  Lord  is  the  head  of  the  church,  and  we  the  mem- 
bers, is  it  not  absurd  to  suppose  that  his  perfection  becomes  us  in 
every  respect  ?  Were  I  allowed  to  carry  on  a  scriptural  metaphor,  I 
would  ask  :  Is  not  the  perfection  of  the  head  very  difierent  from  that 
of  the  hand?  And  do  we  not  take  advantage  of  the  credulity  of  the 


TO  ANTINOxMIANISSl.  177- 

sknpla,  when  we  make  them  believe  that  an  impenitent  adulterer  and 
murderer  is  perfect  in  Christ  ;  or  if  you  please,  that  a  crooked  leg 
and  cloven  foot  are  jyerfectly  handsome,  if  they  do  but  some  how 
belong  ♦o  a  beautiful  face  ? 

8.  Let  us  illustrate  this  a  little  more.  Does  not  the  Redeemer's 
personal  perfection  consist  in  his  being  God  and  man  in  one  person; 
—  in  his  being  eternally  begotten  by  the  Father  as  the  Son  of  God :  ind 
unbegotten  in  time  by  a  father,  iis  the  so7i  of  man ; — in  his  having 
given  his  life  a  ransom  for  all: — in  his  having  taken  it  up  again;  and 
his  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  able  to  'save  to  the  uttermost  all 
that  come  unto  God  through  him  ?  Consider  this,  candid  believer,  and 
say  if  any  man  or  angel  can  decently  hope  that  such  an  incommuni- 
cable perfection  can  ever  fall  to  his  share. 

9.  As  the  Redeemer's  personal  perfection  cannot  suit  the  redcenned, 
no  more  can  the  persona!  perfection  of  the  redeemed  be  found  in  the 
Redeemer.  A  believer's  perfection  consists  in  such  a  degree  of  faith 
as  works  by  perfect  love.  And  does  not  this  high  degree  of  faith 
chiefly  imply,  Uninterrupted  self-diffidence,  self-denial,  self-despair? 
A  heartfelt,  ceaseless  recourse  to  the  blood,  merits,  and  righteousness 
of  Christ? — And  a  grateful  love  to  him,  because  he  first  loved  us,  and 
fervent  charity  towards  all  mankind/or  his  sake?  Three  things  these, 
which  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  either  cannot  be  in  the  Saviour 
at  all ;  or  cannot  possibly  be  in  him  in  the  same  manner  in  which 
they  must  be  in  believers. 

10.  Is  not  the  doctrine  of  our  being  perfect  in  Christ's  person  big 
with  mischief?  Does  it  not  open  a  refuge  of  lies  to  the  loosest  Ranters 
in  the  land  ?  Are  there  none  who  say^  we  are  perfect  in  Christ's  per- 
son ?  In  him  we  have  perfect  chastity  and  honesty,  perfect  temper- 
ance and  meekness ;  and  we  should  be  guilty  of  Pharisaic  insolence 
if  we  patched  his  perfection  with  the  filthy  rags  of  our  personal  holi- 
ness ?  And  has  not  this  doctrine  a  direct  tendency  to  set  godliness 
aside,  and  to  countenance  gross  Antinomianism  ? 

Lastly.  When  our  Lord  preached  the  doctrine  of  perfection,  did 
he  not  do  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  demonstrate  that  our  perfection 
must  be  personal.  Did  he  ever  say.  If  thou  "wilt  be  perfect,  only 
believe  that  I  am  perfect  for  thee?  On  the  contrary,  did  he  not  de- 
clare, If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  sell  what  thou  hast;  [part  wilh  all  that 
stands  in  thy  way  ;]  and  follow  me  in  the  way  of  perfection? — And 
again  :  Do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your 
FcUher  who  is  in  heaven ;  for  he  sendeih  rain  upon  the  just  and  the  un- 
just, &c.  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  is 
perfect  ?  Who  can  read  these  words,  and  not  see  that  the  perfection 

Vol.  IV,  SS 


178  THE  LAST  CHECK 

which  Christ  preached,  is  a  perfection  of  holy  dispositions,  proJuct- 
ive  of  holy  actions  in  all  his  followers  ?  And  that  of  consequence,  it 
is  a  personal  perfection,  as  much  inherent  in  us,  and  yet  as  much 
derived  from  him,  and  dependent  upon  him,  as  the  perfection  of  our 
bodily  health  ?  The  chief  difference  consisting  in  this,  that  the  per- 
fection of  our  health  comes  to  us  from  God  in  Christ,  as  the  God  of 
nature  ;  whereas  our  Christian  perfection  comes  to  us  from  God  in 
Christ,  as  the  God  of  grace. 


SECTION  IV. 

Mr.  HilVs  first  Argument  against  Christian  Perfection  is  taken  from  the 
IXth  and  XVth  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England.  These  Articles, 
properly  understood^  are  not  contrary  to  that  Doctrine.  That  our 
Church  holds  it,  is  proved  by  thirteen  Arguments.  She  opposes  Phari- 
saic but  not  Christian  Perfection.  Eight  Reasons  are  produced  to 
show,  that  it  is  absurd  to  embrace  the  Doctrine  of  a  Death  Purgatory, 
because  our  Reformers  and  Martyrs,  in  following  after  the  Perfection 
of  humility,  have  used  some  unguarded  Expressions,  which  seem  to 
.bear  hard  upon  the  Doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection. 

In  the  preceding  sections  I  have  laid  the  axe  at  the  root  of  some 
prejudices,  and  cut  up  a  variety  of  objections.  The  controversial 
£eld  is  cleared.  The  engagement  may  begin  :  nay,  it  is  already 
begun  :  for  Mr.  Hill,  in  his  Creed  for  Perfectionists,  and  Mr.  Toplady^ 
in  his  Caveat  against  Unsound  Doctrines,  have  brought  up,  and  fired  at 
our  doctrine  two  pieces  of  ecclesiastical  artillery  ; — the  IXth  and 
XVth  Articles  of  our  Church  :  and  they  conclude  that  the  contents 
of  these  doctrinal  cannons  absolutely  demohsh  the  perfection  we  con- 
tend for.  The  report  of  their  wrong-pointed  ordnance,  and  the  noise 
they  make  about  our  subscriptions,  are  loud  ;  but  that  we  need 
not  be  afraid  of  the  shot,  will,  I  hope,  appear  from  the  following 
observations. 

The  design  of  the  XVth  Article  of  our  Church,  is  pointed  out  by 
the  title,  "  Of  Christ  alone  without  sin."  From  this  title  we  conclude, 
that  the  scope  and  design  of  the  Article  is  not  to  secure  to  Christ  the 
honour  of  being  alone  cleansed  from  sin ;  because  such  an  honour  would 
be  a  reproach  to  his  original  and  uninterrupted  purity,  which  placed 
him  far  above  the  need  of  cleansing.  Nor  does  the  Article  drop  the 
least  hint  about  the  impossibility  of  our  being  cleansed  from  sw  before 
we  go  into  the  purgatory  of  the  Calviniats  ;  I  mean,  the  chambers  of 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  179 

death.  What  our  church  intends,  is  to  distinguish  Christ  from  all 
mankind,  and  especially  from  the  Virgin  Mary,  whom  the  Papists 
assert  to  have  been  always  totally  free  from  original  and  actual  sin. 
Our  church  does  this  by  maintaining;  1.  That  Christ  was  born  with- 
out the  least  taint  of  original  sin,  and  never  committed  any  actual  trans- 
gression : — 2.  That  all  other  men,  the  V^irgin  Mary  and  the  most  holy 
believers  Dot  excepted,  are  the  very  reverse  of  Christ  in  both  these 
respects;  all  being  conceived  in  original  sin,  and  offending  in  many 
things,  even  after  baptism,*  and  with  all  the  helps  which  we  have 
under  the  Christian  dispensation  to  keep  us  without  sin  from  day  to 
day. — And  therefore,  3.  That  ifzve  say  we  have  no  sin — if  we  pretend, 
like  some  Pelagians,  that  we  have  no  original  sin  ;  or  if  we  intimate, 
like  some  Pharisees,  that  "  we  never  did  any  harm  in  all  our  lives,'* 
i.  e.  that  we  have  no  actual  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is 
not  in  its ;  there  being  absolutely  no  adult  person  without  sin  in  those 
respects,  except  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

That  this  is  the  genuine  sense  of  the  Article  appears,  1.  By  the 
absurdity  which  follows  from  the  contrary  sentiment.  For  if  these 
words,  "  Christ  alone  without  sm,"  are  to  be  taken  in  an  absolute 
and  unlimited  sense  :  if  the  word  alone  entirely  excludes  all  mankind, 
at  all  times  ;  if  it  is  levelled  at  our  being  cleansed  from  sin,  as  well  as 
at  our  having  been  always  free  from  original  and  actual  pollution  ; — if 
this  is  the  case,  1  say,  it  is  evident,  that  not  only  fathers  in  Christ,  but 
also  Enoch  and  Elijah,  St.  John  and  St.  Paul,  are  to  this  day  tainted 
with  sin,  and  must  to  all  eternity  continue  so,  lest  Mr.  HilVs  opinion 
of  Christ  alone  without  sin  should  not  be  true. 

2.  Our  sentiment  is  confirmed  by  the  Article  itself,  part  of  which 
runs  thus  ;  "  Christ,  in  the  truth  of  our  nature,  was  made  like  unto 
us  in  all  things,  sin  only  excepted,  from  which  he  was  clearly  void, 
both  in  his  flesh  and  in  his  spirit.  He  came  to  be  a  lamb  without 
spot : — and  sin,  as  St.  John  says,  was  not  in  him.  But  all  we  the  rest, 
although  baptized  and  born  again  in  Christ,"  i.  e.  although  we  have 
from  our  infancy  all  the  helps  that  the  Christian  dispensation  affords  men 
to  keep  them  without  sin,  "  yet  we  offend  in  many  things,"  after  our 
baptism  "  and  if  we  say,"  as  the  above-mentioned  Pelagians  and  Pha- 
risees, "  that  we  have  no"  [original  or  actual]  "  sin,"  i.  e.  that  we  are 

*  The  Rev.  Mr.  Toplady,  'n\  his  Historic  Proof,  page  235,  informs  us,  that  a  Popish  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews  condemned  Patrick  Hamilton  to  death,  for  holding  among  other  doc- 
trines, "  That  children  incontinent  after  baptism  are  sinners  ;"  or  which  is  all  one,  that 
baptism  does  not  absolutely  take  away  original  sin.  This  anecdote  is  important,  and  shows 
that  our  Church  levels  at  a  Popish  error  the  words  of  her  Articles,  which  Mr.  Hill  and  Mr. 
Tnplady  suppose  to  be  levelled  at  Christian  Perfection. 


130  THE  LAST  CHECK 

like  Christ  in  either  of  these  respects ;  our  conception^  infancy ^  childhood, 
youths  and  age  being  all  taken  into  the  account,  '*  we  deceive  ourselves 
and  the  truth  is  not  in  us." 

Having  thus  opened  the  plain,  rational,  and  scriptural  sense  in 
which  we  subscribe  to  our  XVth  Article,  it  remains  to  make  a  remarl^ 
upon  the  Ninth. 

Sotxie  bigoted  Pelagians  deny  original  sin,  or  the  Adamic  infection 
of  our  nature ;  and  some  bigoted  Papists  suppose  that  this  infection 
is  entirely  done  away  in  baptism  :  in  opposition  to  both  these,  our 
Church  prudently  requires  our  subscription  to  her  IXth  Article^ 
which  asserts:  1.  ThdX  the  fault  and  corruption  of  our  nature  is  a 
melancholy  reality ;  and  2.  That  this  fault,  corruptiony  or  infection^ 
doth  remain  in  them  zvho  are  regenerated;  that  is,  in  them  who  are 
baptized,  or  made  children  of  God  according  to  the  Christian  dispen- 
9ation.  For  every  person  who  has  attentively  read  our  Liturgy, 
knows  that  these  expressions,  baptized,  regenerated,  and  made  a  mem- 
oer  of  Christy  and  a  child  of  God,  are  synonymous  in  the  language  of 
our  church.  Now,  because  we  have  acknowledged  by  our  sub- 
scription to  our  ninth  Article,  that  the  infection  of  our  nature  is  not 
done  away  in  baptism,  but  does  remain  in  them  which  are  regenerate, 
or  baptized,  Mr.  Hill  thinks  himself  authorized  to  impose  upon  us 
the  yoke  of  indwelling  sin  for  life  ;  supposing  that  we  cannot  be  fair 
subscribers  to  that  Article,  unless  we  renounce  the  glorious  liberty 
of  God's  children,  and  embrace  the  Antinomian  Gospel,  which  is 
summed  up  in  these  unguarded  words  of  Luther,  quoted  by  Bogatzky 
in  his  Golden  Treasury.*  "  T%e  sins  of  a  Christian  are  for  his  goody 
and  if  he  had  no  sin,  he  would  not  be  so  well  off; — neither  would  prayer 
flow  so  weliy  Can  any  thing  be  either  more  unscriptural  or  absurd  ? 
What  unprejudiced  person  does  not  see,  we  may,  with  the  greatest 
consistency,  ojainlain  that  baptism  does  not  remove  the  Adamic  infec- 
tion of  sin,  and  that  nevertheless  this  infection  may  be  removed 
before  death  ? 

Nevertheless  we  are  willing  to  make  Mr.  Hill  all  the  concessions 
we  can,  consistently  with  a  good  conscience.  If,  by  "  the  infection 
of  nature,'^  he  understand  the  natural  ignorance  which  has  infected 
our  understanding ;  the  natural  forgetfulness  which  has  affected  our 
memory  ;  the  inbred  debility  of  all  our  mental  powers,  and  the  poi- 
sonous seeds  of  mortality,  which  infect  all  men  from  head  to  foot, 
and  hinder  the  strongest  believers  from  serving  God  with  all  the 
fervour  they  would  be  capable  of,  were  they  not  fallen  from  paradi- 

*  See  the,  edition  printed  in  London  in  1773,  p.  328. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  161 

siacal  perfection,  under  the  curse  of  a  body  sentenced  to  die,  and 
dead  because  of  sin: — If  Mr.  Hill,  I  say,  understand  this  by  '^  the 
infection  of  nature,''^  we  believe  that  such  an  infection,  with  all  the 
natnral,  innocent  appetites  of  the  flesh,  remains  not  only  in  those  whom 
the  Scriptures  call  babes  in  Christ,  but  also  in  fathers ;  there  beinjr  no 
adult  believer  that  may  not  say,  as  well  as  Christ,  Jidam,  or  St.  Pauly 
I  thirst. — I  am  hungry. — I  want  a  help  meet  for  me. — /  know  but  in 
part. — /  see  darkly  through  a  glass. — I  groan,  being  burdened. — He  that 
marrieih  iinneth  not. — It  is  better  to  marry  than  to  burn,  4-c. 

But,  if  Mr.  Hill,  by  "  the  infection  of  nature,^^  mean  the  siiiful  lusts 
of  the  flesh,  such  as  mental  drunkennes«,  gluttony,  whoredom,  &lc. — 
or,  if  he  understand  unloving,  diabolical  tempers,  such  as  envy,  pride, 
stubbornness,  malice,  sinful  anger,  ungodly  jealousy,  unbelief,  fret- 
fulness,  impatience,  hypocrisy,  revenge,  or  any  moral  opposition  to 
the  will  of  God  ;  if  Mr.  Hill,  I  say,  understand  this  by  "  the  infection 
of  nature ;"  and  if  he  suppose  that  these  evils  must  radically  and 
necessarily  remain  in  the  hearts  of  all  believers  [fathers  in  Christ  not 
excepted]  till  death  comes  to  cleanse  the  thoughts  of  their  hearts  by 
the  inspiration  of  his  ill-smelling  breath  ;  we  must  take  the  liberty  of 
dissenting  from  him  ;  and  we  produce  the  following  arguments  to 
prove,  that  whatever  Mr.  Hill  may  insinuate  to  the  contrary,  the 
Church  of  England  is  rot  against  the  doctrine  of  evangelical  perfec- 
tion, which  we  vindicate. 

I.  Our  Church  can  never  be  so  inconsistent  as  to  level  her  Articles 
against  what  she  ardently  prays  for  in  her  Liturgy  :  but  she  ardently 
prays  for  Christian  perfection,  or  for  perfect  love  in  this  life  :  there- 
fore she  is  not  against  Christian  perfection.  The  second  proposition 
of  this  argument  can  alone  be  disputed,  and  I  support  it  by  the  well- 
known  Collect  in  the  communion  service,  "  Cleanse  the  thoughts  of 
our  hearts  by  the  inspiration  of  thy  holy  Spirit,  that  we  may  perfectly 
love  thee,  and  worthily  magnify  thy  holy  name  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  Here  we  see,  1.  The  nature  of  Christian  Perfection, 
it  is  perfect  love:  2.  The  seat  of  this  perfect  love  ;  a  heart  cleansed 
from  its  own  thoughts :  3.  The  blessed  effect  of  it,  a  worthy  magnify- 
ing of  God^s  holy  name:  4.  Its  author,  God,  of  whom  the  blessing  is 
asked.  5.  The  immediate  mean  of  it,  the  inspiration  of  his  Holy 
Spirit:  and  lastly,  the  gracious  procurer  of  it,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

H.  This  vein  of  godly  desire  after  Christian  perfection  runs  through 
her  daily  service.  In  her  Confession  she  prays,  "  Restore  thou  them 
that  are  penitent,  according  to  thy  promises,  he.  that  hereafter  we 
may  live  a  godly,  righteous,  and  sober  life,  to  the  glory  of  thy  holy 
aame." — Now,  godliness,  righteousness,  and  sobriety  being  the  sum  of 


•182  THE   LASK   CHECK 

our  duly  towards  God,  our  neighbour,  and  ourselves,  are  also  the 
sum  of  Christian  perfection.  Nor  does  our  church  absolve  any,  but 
such  as  desire  that  the  rest  of  their  life  may  be  pure  and  holy,  so  that  at 
the  last  they  may  come  to  God's  eternal  joy ;  plainly  intimating  that  we 
may  get  a  pure  heart,  and  lead  a  pure  and  holy  life,  without  going  into 
a  death  purgatory :  and  those  who  do  not  attain  to  purity  of  heart 
and  life,  that  is,  to  perfection,  are  in  danger  of  missing  God's  eter- 
nal joy. 

III.  Hence  it  is,  that  she  is  not  ashamed  to  pray  daily  for  sinless 
purity,  in  the  Te  Deum:  "  Vouchsafe,  O  Lord,  to  keep  us  this  day 
without  sin,^''  that  is,  sinless;  for  I  suppose,  that  the  title  of  our  XVth 
Article,  *'  Of  Christ  alone  without  5m,"  means  Of  Christ  alone  sinless 
from  his  conception  to  his  last  gasp.  This  deep  petition  is  perfectly 
agreeable  to  the  Collects  for  the  ix.  xvii.  xviii.  and  xixth  Sundays 
after  Trinity.  "  Grant  to  us  the  spirit  to  thi7ik,  and  do  always  such 
things  as  be  rightful, — that  we  may  be  enabled  to  live  according  to 
thy  will,'' — i.  e.  to  live  without  sin. — "  We  pray  thee,  that  thy  grace 
may  always  prevent  and  follow  us,  and  make  us  to  be  continually 
given  to  all  good  works,'^  &c. — "  Grant  thy  people  grace  to  withstand 
the  temptations  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and  with  pure 
hearts  and  minds  to  follow  thee." — *'  Mercifully  grant  that  thy  holy 
Spirit  may  in  all  things  direct  and  rule  our  hearts." — Again  :  *'  May 
it  please  thee,  that  by  the  wholesome  medicines  of  the  doctrine 
delivered  by  him  [Luke,  the  evangehst  and  physician  of  the  soul,] 
all  the  diseases  of  our  souls  may  be  healed,"  &c.  St,  Luke's  day, 
**  Mortify  and  kill  in  us  all  vices"  [and  among  them  envy,  seltishness, 
and  pride  ;]  and  so  strengthen  us  by  thy  grace,  that  by  the  innocency 
of  our  lives,  and  constancy  of  our  faith  unto  death,  we  may  glorify 
thy  holy  name,"  &c.  The  Innocents  day. — "  Grant  us  the  help  of  thy 
grace,  that  in  keeping  thy  commandments,  we  may  please  thee  both  in 
will  and  deed."  First  Sunday  after  Trinity. — ^'  Direct,  sanctify,  and 
govern  both  our  hearts  and  bodies,  in  the  ways  of  thy  laws,  and  in  the 
works  of  thy  commandments,  that  we  may  be  preserved"  [in  these 
ways  and  works]  "  in  body  and  soul." — '*  Prevent  us  in  all  our  doings, 
&c.  and  further  us  with  thy  continual  help  ;  that  in  all  our  works, 
begun,  continued,  and  ended  in  thee,  we  may  glorify  thy  holy  name." 
Communion  Service. — Once  more  :  "  Grant  that  in  all  our  sufferings 
here  on  earth,  &c.  we  may  steadfastly  look  up  to  heaven,  and  by  faith 
behold  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  ;  and  being  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  may  learn  to  bless  our  persecutors  by  the  example  of  thy 
first  martyr,"  &,c.  St.  Stephen's  day.  It  is  worth  our  notice,  that 
blessing  aur  persecutors  and  murderers^  is  the   last  beatitude,  the 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  183 

highest  instance  of  Christian  perfection,  and  the  most  difficult  of  all 
the  duties,  which,  if  we  may  believe  our  Lord,  constitute  us  perfect, 
in  our  sphere,  as  our  heavenly  Father  is  perfect.  See  Matl,  v.  11. 
44,  45,  48. 

IV.  Perfect  love,  i.  e.  Christian  perfection  instantaneously  springs 
from  perfect  faith :  and  as  our  r:hurch  would  have  all  her  members 
perfect  in  love,  she  requires  them  to  pray  thus  for  perfect /aif/i, 
which  must  be  obtained  in  this  life  or  never.  "  Grant  us  so  perfectly, 
and  without  all  doubt  to  believe  in  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ,  that  our  faith 
in  thy  sight  may  never  be  reproved."     St.  Thomas's  day. 

V.  Otir  Lord  teaches  us  to  ask  for  the  highest  degree  of  Christian 
perfection,  where  he  commands  us,  When  we  pray,  to  say,  4*^  Thy 
kingdom  come  ;  thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  And  our 
Church,  by  introducing  this  deep  prnyer  in  all  her  services,  sbows 
how  greatly  Mr.  Hill  is  mistaken  when  he  supposes  that  she  looks 
upon  our  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  as  "  shocking.''^ 

Should  this  gentleman  object  that,  although  our  Church  bids  us  pray 
for  Christian  perfection  in  the  above-cited  Collects,  and  in  our  Lord's 
prayer,  yet  she  does  not  intimate  that  these  deep  prayers  may  be 
answered  in  this  life  :  I  oppose  to  that  argument  not  only  the  word  on 
earth,  which  she  so  frequently  mentions  in  the  Lord's  prayer,  but 
also  her  own  words  :  "  Everlasting  God,  who  art  more  ready  to 
hear  than  we  to  pray,  and  art  wont  to  give  more  than  we  desire,  &c. 
pour  down  upon  us  the  abundance  of  thy  mercy,"  &:c.  Twelfth  Sun- 
day after  Trinity.  Mr.  Hill  must  therefore  excuse  us,  if  we  side  with 
our  praying  church,  and  are  not  ashamed  to  say  with  St.  Paul,  Glory 
be  to  him  that  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  can 
ask  or  think,  according  to  the  power  that  worketh  in  us.  Eph.  iii.  20. 

VL  That  oar  Church  cannot  reasonably  be  against  Christian  per- 
fection, I  farther  prove  thus  :  What  the  Church  of  England  recom- 
mends as  the  end  of  baptism,  can  never  be  contrary  to  her  doctrine. 
But  she  recommends  a  d^eath  unto  sin,  or  Christian  perfection,  as  the 
end  of  baptism  :  therefore  she  cannot  be  against  Christian  perfection. 
The  second  proposition,  which  alone  is  disputable,  1  prove  by  these 
words  of  her  Catechism  :  "  What  is  the  inward  or  spiritual  grace  in 
baptism?  A  death  unto  sin,  and  a  new  birth  unto  righteousness." — 
Hence  she  prays  at  the  grave,  "  We  beseech  thee  to  raise  us  from  the 
death  of  sin  to  the  life  of  righteousness,  that  when  we  shall  depart 
this  life,  we  may  rest  in  him."  [Christ.]  Now,  that  a  death  to  sin  is 
the  end  of  baptism,  and  that  this  end  is  never  fdly  answered  till  this 
death  has  fully  taken  place,  is  evident  by  the  following  extract  from 
0ur  baptismal  office  •  ''  Grant  that  the  old  Adam  in  this  person  may 


1B4  THE    LAST    CHECri 

be  so  buried^  that  the  new  may  be  raised  up  in  him.  Grant  that  aU 
carnal  affecliom  [and  consequently  all  the  carnal  mind,  and  all  inbred 
sinl  may  die  in  him,  and  that  all  things  belonging  to  the  Spirit  may 
live  and  grow  in  him." — "  Grant  that  the  person  now  to  be  baptized 
may  receive  the  fulness  of  thy  grace. — Grant,  that  he  being  dead  to 
8171,  and  living  to  righteousness,  and  being  buried  with  Christ  in  hig 
death,  may  crucify  the  old  man,  and  utterly  abolish  the  whole  body  of 
sin.''^  How  can  we  maintain  with  our  Church,  that  we  are  to  crucify, 
mortify,  [i.  e.  killl^  and  utterly  abolish  the  whole  body  of  sin ;  so  as  to 
be  dead  to  sin,  and  to  have  the  old  Adam  buried  in  this  life :  and  yet 
hold  with  Mr.  Hill,  that  this  whole  body  of  sin,  which  we  are  utterly 
to  abolish,  is  to  remain  wholly  and  utterly  unabolished  till  death  coniG 
to  abolish  it  ? 

VII.  Our  Church  is  not  against  that  end  of  the  Lord's  supper,  which 
she  constantly  inculcates  :  but  that  end  of  the  Lord's  supper,  which 
she  constantly  inculcates,  is  Christian  perfection  :  therefore  our  church 
is  not  against  Christian  perfection.  The  second  proposition,  which 
alone  needs  proof,  is  founded  upon  these  deep  words  of  our  com- 
munion  service.  "  Grant  us  so  to  eat  the  flesh  of  thy  dear  Son  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  drink  his  blood,  that  our  sinful  bodies  may  be  made 
clean  by  his  body,  and  our  souls  washed  through  his  precious  blood, 
and  that  we  may  evermore  dwell  in  him  and  he  in  us.''^  These  words 
express  the  height  of  Christian  perfection,  nor  has  the  Lord's  supper 
had  its  full  end  upon  us,  till  that  prayer  is  answered. 

VIII.  Our  Church  is  not  against  what  she  considers  as  the  end  of 
Christ's  nativity,  and  of  his  being  presented  in  the  temple  :  but  what 
she  considers  as  that  end  is  Christian  perfection :  therefore  she  is  not 
against  Christian  perfection.  The  second  proposition  of  this  argument 
is  founded,  L  Upon  the  proper  preface  to  Christmas-day  in  the  com- 
munion service.  "  Christ,  &ic.  was  made  very  man,  &c.  without  spot 
of  sin,  to  make  us  clean  from  all  sin  •" — And  2.  Upon  these  words  of 
the  Collect  for  the  presentation  of  Christ  in  the  temple  :  "  We  humbly 
beseech  thee,  that  as  thy  only  begotten  Son  was  presented  in  the 
temple  in  substance  of  our  flesh,  so  we  may  be  presented  unto  thee 
with  pure  and  clean  hearts. ^^ 

IX.  The  same  argument  holds  good  with  respect  to  our  Lord's 
circumcision,  his  keeping  of  the  passover  with  unleavened  bread,  his 
ascending  into  heaven, — and  his  sending  the  Comforter  from  thence. 
That,  according  to  our  Church,  the  end  of  these  events  is  our  Christian 
perfection,  appears  by  the  following  extracts  from  her  Collects. 
*'  Grant  us  the  true  circumcision  of  the  spirit,  that  our  hearts  and  alt 
our  members  being  mortified  from  all  worldly  and  carnal  lusts,  we 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  1  8 J 

may  in  all  things  obey,"  kc.  The  circumcision  of  C7jm^—<' Grant  us 
30  io  put  away  the  leaven  of  malice  and  wickedness,  that  we  may  alway 
serve  thee  in  pureness  of  living  and  truth."  First  Sunday  after 
Easter.  "  Grant,  &c.  that  we  may  also  in  heart  and  mind  thither  [to 
heaven]  ascend,  and  with  him  [Christ]  continually  dwell^^''  &.c.  Ascen- 
sion day. — "  Grant  us,  by  the  same  spirit,  to  have  a  right  judg- 
ment in  all  things,  and  evermore  to  rejoice  in  his  holy  comfort.''^  IVhit 
suntide. 

X.  Our  Church  cannot  reasonably  oppose  what  she  ardently  wishes 
to  all  her  communicants,  and  what  she  earnestly  asks  for  and  strongly 
recommends  to  all  her  members  :  but  she  thus  wishes,  asks,  and 
recommends  deliverance  from  all  sin,  an{\  perfect  charity,  that  is,  Chris- 
tian  perfection  ;  and  therefore  she  cannot  be  against  Christian  per- 
fection. The  second  proposition  is  founded,  1.  Upon  these  words  of 
the  absolution,  which  she  gives  to  all  communicants.  *•  Almighty 
God,  &c.  pardon  and  deliver  you  from  all  your  sins,  confirm  and 
strengthen  you  in  all  goodness.^'' — 2.  Upon  her  Collect  for  Quinqua- 
gesima  Sunday :  "  Send  thy  Holy  Ghost,  and  pour  into  our  hearts 
that  most  excellent  gift  of  charity,  the  very  bond  of  peace  and  of  all 
virtues  :"  (St.  Paul  calls  it  the  bond  of  perfection.) — And  3.  Upon  the 
definition  which  she  gives  us  of  charity  in  her  homilies.  "  Charity 
[says  she]  is  to  love  God  with  all  our  heart,  all  our  soul,  and  all  our 
power  and  strength. — With  all  our  heart :  that  is  to  say,  that  our 
heart,  mind,  and  study  be  set  to  believe  his  word,  and  to  love  him 
above  all  things  that  we  love  best  in  heaven  or  in  earth.  With  all 
our  soul :  that  is  to  say,  that  our  chief  joy  and  delight  be  set  upon 
him,  and  our  whole  life  given  to  his  service. — With  all  our  power : 
that  is  to  say,  that,  with  our  hands  and  feet,  with  our  eyes  and  ears, 
our  mouths  and  tongues,  and  with  all  our  parts  and  powers,  both  of 
body  and  soul,  we  should  be  given  to  the  keeping  of  his  command- 
ments. This  is  the  principal  part  of  charity,  but  it  is  not  the  whole  ; 
for  charity  is  also  to  love  every  man,  good  and  evil,  friend  and  foe, 
whatsoever  cause  be  given  to  the  contrary."  Horn,  on  Charity — "  Of 
charity  [St.  John]  says,  He  that  doth  keep  God's  word  and  command- 
ment, in  him  is  truly  the  perfect  love  of  God,  &c.  And  St.  John  wrote 
not  this  as  a  subtle  saying,  kc.  but  as  a  most  certain  and  necessary 
truth.^"*  Homily  of  Faith,  Part.  II.—**  Thus  it  is  declared  unto  you, 
what  true  charity  or  Christian  love  is,  &;c.  which  love,  whosoever 
keepeth,  not  only  towards  God,  whom  he  is  bound  to  love  above  all 
thing's,  but  also  towards  his  neighbour,  as  well  friend  as  foe,  it  shall 
surely  keep  him  from  all  offence  of  God,  and  just  (ffencc  of  man.^'' 
Homily  on  Charity^  Part  II. Again  :  *'  Every  man  persuadeth  him- 

VOT.     IV,  O/t 


180  THE   LAST   CHECK 

self  to  be  in  charity,  but  let  him  examine  his  own  heart,  his  Irfe  an<l 
eonversation,  and  he  shall  truly  discern  whether  he  be  in  perfect 
charity  or  not.  For  he  that  follovveth  not  his  own  will,  but  givetb 
himself  earnestly  to  God,  to  do  all  his  will  and  commandments,  he 
may  be  sure  that  he  loveth  God  above  all  things,  or  else  surely  he 
loveth  him  not,  whatsoever  he  pretend."  Homily  on  Charity,  -  Ouce 
more  :  "  Perfect  patience  careth  not  what,  nor  how  much  it  suffereth, 
nor  of  whom  it  suflfereth,  whether  of  friend  or  foe,  but  studieth  to 
suffer  innocently.  Yea,  he  in  whom  perfect  charity  is,  careth  so  little 
to  revenge,  that  he  rather  studieth  to  do  good  for  evil,  according  to 
the  most  perfect  example  of  Christ  upon  the  cross. — Such  charity 
and  love  as  Christ  showed  in  his  passion,  should  we  bear  one  to 
another,  if  we  will  be  his  true  servants.  If  we  love  but  them  that 
love  us,  what  great  thing  do  we  do?  We  must  be  perfect  in  our 
charity,  eyen  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  Homily  for  Good 
Friday. 

XI.  That  state  which  our  Church  wants  all  her  priests  to  bring 
their  flocks  to,  is  not  a  "  shocking"  or  chimerical  state  ;  but  she 
wants  all  her  priests  to  bring  all  their  flocks  to  "■  perfectness  in  Christ,''^ 
that  is,  to  Christian  perfection :  and  therefore  the  state  of  Christian 
perfection  is  neither  shocking  nor  chimerical.  The  minor,  which 
alone  is  contestable,  rests  upon  this  awful  part  of  the  charge,  which 
all  her  bishops  give  to  her  Priests  ;  "  See  that  you  never  cease  your 
labour,  care,  and  diligence,  until  you  have  done  all  that  liethin  you  to 
bring  all  such  as  shall  be  committed  to  your  charge  unto  that  agree- 
ment of  faith,  and  that  ripeness  and  perfectness  of  age  in  Christ,  that 
there  be  no  place  left  among  you  for  error  in  religion,  or  viciousness 
in  life."     Ordin.  Office. 

Nor  is  our  Church  less  strict  with  the  laity  than  with  the  clergy; 
for  she  receives  none  into  her  congregation,  but  such  as  profess  a 
determination  of  coming  up  to  Christian  Perfection.  Accordingly  all 
her  members  have  solemnly  promised  and  vowed,  by  their  sponsors  at 
their  baptism,  and  in  their  own  persons  when  they  were  confirmed  by 
the  bishop  ;  1 .  To  renounce  the  devil  and  all  his  works,  the  pomps  and 
vanities  of  this  wicked  world,  without  reserve,  and  all  the  sinful  lusts 
of  the  flesh ;  2,  To  believe  all  the  Articles  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  and 
3.  To  keep  God''s  holy  will  and  commandments,  and  walk  in  the  same  all 
the  days  of  their  life.  And  is  not  this  vowing  to  perfect  holiness  in  the 
fear  of  God  ?  Does  the  first  part  of  this  sacred  engagement,  leave 
any  room  for  a  moment's  agreement  with  the  devil,  the  world,  or 
the  flesh?  Does  the  second  make  the  least  allowance  for  one  doubt 
with  respect  to  ahy  one  Article  of  the  Christian  faith  ?  or  the  third, 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  187 

for  one  wilful  breach  of  God^s  commandments  ?  Agnin,  are  not  these 
commandments  thus  summed  up  in  our  Church  catechism  :  /  learn  in 
ihem  my  duty  toxnards  God,  which  is  to  love  him  -anth  all  my  heart, —  and 
my  duty  towards  my  neighbour,  which  is  to  love  him  as  myself?  Is  not 
this  perfect  love,  or  Christian  perfection  ?  And  have  we  not  vowed  to 
'Walk  in  the  same  all  the  days  of  our  life  ?  As  many  churchmen  there- 
fore as  make  conscience  of  keeping  their  baptismal  vow,  must  not 
only  g-o  on,  but  attain  unto  perfection  ;  and  if  there  have  been  no  per- 
fect Christians  in  our  Church,  all  her  members  have  died  in  the  actual 
breach  of  the  awful  promise  which  they  made  in  their  baptism  :  a 
supposition  too  shocking  either  to  make  or  allow. 

If  you  ask,  Where  ar«  those  perfect  churchmen,  or  Christians  ?  I 
answer  :  that  if  the  perfect  love  that  keeps  the  commandments  is  not 
attainable,  our  baptismal  vow  is  absurd  and  detestable  ;  for  it  is  both 
irrational  and  very  wicked  to  vow  things  absolutely  impossible.  But 
this  is  not  all  ;  upon  that  supposition  the  Bible,  which  makes  such 
frequent  mention  of  the  perfect,  and  of  perfection,  is  no  better  than 
a  Popish  legend  ;  for  that  book  ought  to  rank  among  religious  roman- 
ces, which  recommends  imaginary  things  as  if  they  were  indubitable 
realities.  So  sure  then  as  the  Bible  is  true,  there  are  or  may  be  per- 
fect Christians ;  but 

Virtutem  incolumem  odimus, 
Sublatara  ex  oculis  quaerimus  invidi. 

"  While  we  honour  dead  saints,  we  call  those  who  are  alive  enthu- 
siasts, hypocrites,  or  heretics  :"  It  is  not  proper  therefore  to  expose 
them  to  the  darts  of  envy  and  malice.  And  suppose  living  witnesses 
of  perfect  love  were  produced,  what  would  be  the  consequence? 
Their  testimony  would  be  excepted  against  by  those  who  disbelieve 
the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection,  just  as  the  testimony  of  the 
believers  who  enjoy  the  sense  of  their  justification,  is  rejected  by 
those  who  do  not  believe  that  a  clear  experience  of  the  peace  and 
pardoning  love  of  God  is  attainable  in  this  life.  If  the  original,  di- 
rect perfection  of  Christ  himself  was  horribly  blackened  by  his  bigot- 
ed opposers,  how  could  the  derived,  reflected  perfection  of  his  mem- 
bers escape  the  same  treatment  from  men,  whose  hearts  are  tinctured 
with  a  degree  of  the  same  bigotry  ? 

Add  to  this,  that  in  order  to  harden  unbelievers,  the  accuser  of  the 
brethren  perpetually  obtrudes  upon  the  church,  not  only  false  wit- 
nesses of  pardoning  grace,  but  also  vain  pretenders  to  perfect  love  : 
for  he  knows,  that  by  putting  oflf  as  many  counterfeits  as  he  possibly 
can,  he  will  give  the  enemies  of  the  truth  room  to  say,  that  there  is 


18S  THE    LAST    CHECK 

in  the  church  no  gold  purified  seven  times,— no  coin  truly  stamped 
with  the  King's  image,  perfect  love;  and  bearing  the  royal  inscription, 
Holiness  unto  the  Lord.^''^ 

Therefore,  instead  of  saying,  that  thisor  the  other  eminent  believer 
has  attained  Christian  perfection,  we  rest  the  cause  upon  the  expe- 
rience of  St.  John,  and  of  those  with  whom  that  apostle  could  say  : — 
There  is  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in  him  that  loveth. — Herein  is  our  love 
made  perfect,  that  we  may  have  boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment,  because 
[with  respect  to  hoHness]  as  he  is  [in  his  human  nature]  so  are  we  in  this 
zvorld — pure,  undefiled,  and  filled  with  perfect  love  ;  with  this  differ- 
ence nevertheless,  that  he  is  in  the  kingdom  of  glory,  and  we  in  the 
kingdom  of  grace  ;  he  has  a  glorified,  and  we  a  corruptible  body  :  he 
has  the  original  perfection  of  a  tree,  and  we  the  derived  perfection  of 
hranches gi'owing  upon  it.  Or,  to  use  another  comparison.  He  shines 
with  the  communicative  perfection  of  a  pure,  bright,  unextinguishable 
fire  ;  and  we  with  a  borrowed,  and  yet  inherent  perfection  of  a  coal 
entirely  lighted.  The  burning  mineral  was  black,  cold,  and  filthy, 
before  it  was  impregnated  with  the  perfection  of  the  fire  ;  it  continues 
bright,  hot,  and  pure,  only  so  long  as  it  remains  in  the  fire  that  kin- 
dled it ;  for  if  it  fall  from  it  by  any  accident,  the  shining  perfection 
which  it  had  acquired  gradually  vanishes,  and  it  becomes  a  filthy 
cinder,  the  black  emblem  of  an  apostate.  So  true  is  that  saying  of 
our  Lord,  Without  me,  or  rather  separate  from  me,  ye  can  da  nothing  : 
ye  can  neither  get  nor  keep  light  or  heat,  knowledge  or  love.  But 
when  we  live  not,  and  Christ  liveth  in  us  :  when  our  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God,  when  we  dwell  in  God,  and  God  dwells  in  us  ;  then  it  is 
that  our  love  is  made  perfect,  and  that,  loving  one  another  even  as 
Christ  hath  loved  us,  as  he  is  loving,  so  are  we  in  this  world.  1  John 
iv.  17. 

Such  was  the  avowed  experience  of  fathers  in  Christ  in  the  apos- 
tolic times,  and  such  it  undoubtedly  is  also  in  our  days.  Nor  can  I 
persuade  myself  that  our  Church  trifles  with  her  children  when  she 
describes  the  perfect  Christian  thus  in  her  homily  for  Good  Friday. 


*  Among  the  professors,  who  have  lately  set  up  as  witnesses  of  perfect  love,  I  am  not  a 
little  surprised  to  find  Mr.  Hill  himself.  This  gentleman,  who  has  treated  Mr.  Wesley  with 
such  severity  for  standing  up  in  defence  of  perfect  love,  or  Christian  Perfection,  most  so- 
lemnly ranks  himself  among  the  perfect  lovers  of  their  neighbours,  yea,  of  their  adversa- 
ries! Hear  him  make  his  astonishing  profession  before  the  world,  at  the  end  of  his  pam- 
phlet called  The  Admonisher  admonished. — "  I  most  solemnly  declare,"  says  he,  "  that  I 
am  in  perfect  charity  with  Dr.  Adams  as  well  as  with  you,  Sir,  my  unknown  antagonist." 
1  never  yet  heard  a  Perfectionist  make  so  solemn  and  so  public  a  profession  of  perfect 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  180 

"  He  in  whom  perfect  charity  is,  careth  so  little  to  revenge,  that  he  rather 
studieth  to  do  good  for  ei'i7,  according  to  the  most  perfect  example  of 
Christ  upon  the  cross. ''^ 

XIII.  If  Mr.  Hill  reply,  that  our  Church  speaks  there  of  a  mere 
nonentity  :  and  that  we  can  never  have  a  grain  o[  perfect  charity  in 
this  life,  because  the  old  leaven  of  indwelling  sin  will  always  corrupt 
the  sweetness  of  our  tempers  before  God  ;  I  answer  his  objection  by 
producing  my  last  proof,  that  our  Church  holds  the  very  doctrine  for 
which  we  are  called  perfectionists.  Hear  her  pressing  perfect  Iovq 
and  purity  upon  all  her  communicants  :  '•  Have  a  lively  and  steadfast 
faith  in  Christ,  4'C.  and  be  in  perfect  charity  with  all  men.''^  Com.  Office. 
— And  2.  Upon  all  her  feeble  children.  Though  your  power  he  weak, 
[says  she  to  them,]  yet  Christ  is  risen  again  to  strengthen  you  in  your 
battle  :  His  holy  Spirit  shall  help  your  infirmities.  In  trust  of  his 
mercy  take  you  in  hand  to  purge  this  leaven  of  sin,  that  corrupteth  and 
soureth  the  sweettiess  of  our  life  before  God ;  that  ye  may  be  as  new  and 
fresh  dough,  void  of  all  sour  leaven  of  wickedness  ;  so  shall  ye  show 
yourselves  to  be  sweet  bread  to  God,  that  he  may  have  his  delight  in  you. 
Horn.  00  the  Resur. 

All  the  preceding  arguments  support  our  sense  of  the  IXth  and 
XVth  articles ;  and  if  Mr.  Hill  urge,  that  our  Church  contradicts  her- 
self, and  sometimes  pleads  for  Christian  imperfection  and  a  death 
purgatory  ;  we  reply,  that,  supposing  the  charge  were  well  grounded, 
yet  we  ought  rather  to  follow  her,  when  she  soberly  follows  Scrip- 
ture, than  when  she  hastily  follows  inconsistent  Augustine.  But  we 
would  rather  hope,  that  when  she  speaks  of  human  depravity  in  a 
manner  which  seems  to  bear  hard  upon  the  preceding  quotations,  it  is 
either  when  she  speaks  of  human  depravity  in  general,  or  when  she 
inculcates  the  perfection  of  humility,  or  when  she  opposes  the 
feigned  perfection  of  those  whom  she  ironically  calls  ^'  proud,  just, 
perfect,  and  holy  Pharisees.^''  Horn,  on  the  Misery  of  Man.  From 
these  and  the  like  words,  therefore,  we  have  as  much  reason  to  con- 
clude, that  she  renounces  true.  Christian  holiness,  as  to  infer,  that 
she  decries  true,  Christian  perfection.  Besides  the  delusion  of  those 
Pharisees,  who  have  missed  a  perfection  of  evangelical  righteousness 
and  humility,  and  have  attained  a  perfection  of  self-righteousness  and 
pride,  is  so  horrible,  and  so  diametrically  opposite  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  that  our  Reformers  deserve  to  be  excused,  if  they  have 
sometimes  opposed  that  error  in  an  unguarded  manner;  especially 
as  they  have  so  clearly  and  so  frequently  asserted  the  glorious  libertA 
of  God's  children. 


190  THE    LAST    CHECK 

I  shall  close  this  vindication  of  the  Church  of  England  with  some 
remarks  upon  her  *'  Martyrs,"  whom  Mr.  Hill  produces  also  in  his 
creed,  to  keep  the  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfection  in  counte- 
nance. 

1.  If  any  of  our  Martyrs,  speaking  of  his  converted,  renewed,  and 
sanctitied  state,  said,  "  I  am  all  sin,"  or  words  to  that  purpose,  he 
spoke  the  words  of  unguarded  humihty,  rather  than  the  words  of 
evangelical  soberness  ;  for  a  man  may  have  grace  and  zeal  enough  to 
burn  for  one  truth,  without  having  time  and  prudence  enough,  pro- 
perly to  investigate  and  state  every  truth. 

2.  In  our  state  of  weakness,  the  very  perfection  of  humility  may 
betray  an  injudicious  martyr  into  the  use  of  expressions  which  seem 
to  clash  with  the  glorious  liberty  of  God's  children  :  just  as  an  exces- 
sive love  for  our  friends  may  betray  us  into  an  injudicious  and  teasing 
officiousness. 

3.  When  a  martyr  considers  himself  in  his  fallen  state  in  Adam,  or 
in  h'\s  former  state  of  disobedience,  he  may  say,  "  /  am  all  sm,'-  in 
the  very  sanje  sense  in  which  St.  Paul  said,  I  am  the  chief  of  sinners. 
But  allow  him  time  to  explain  himself,  and  he  will  soon  give  you  to 
understand  that  he  rejoices  in  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience,  purged 

from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God;  and  that  far  from  harbour- 
ing any  sin  in  himself,  he  is  determined  to  strive  against  sin  in  others  ; 
resisting  unto  blood.  And  is  not  such  a  disposition  as  this  one  of  the 
highest  steps  in  the  ladder  of  Christian  perfection  ? 

4.  Hence  it  appears  that  the  unguarded  expressions  of  our  mar- 
tyrs were  levelled  at  Pharisaic  pride,  or  at  absolute  perfection^  and 
not  at  Christian  perfection.  Like  some  pious  Calvinists  in  our  days, 
they  embraced  Christian  perfection  in  deed^  whilst,  through  misap- 
prehension, they  disclaimed  it  in  word.  And  therefore  their 
speeches  against  the  glorious  liberty  of  God's  children,  show  only, 
that  Christian  perfection  is  a  perfection  of  humility  and  love^  and  not 
a  perfection  of  wisdom  and  knowledge. 

5.  If  it  can  be  proved  that  any  of  those,  who  rank  among  our 
martyrs,  died  full  of  indwelling  sin,  I  will  not  scruple  to  say  that  he 
died  a  bigot,  and  not  a  martyr ;  for,  to  die  full  of  indwelling  sin  is  to 
die  full  of  secret  obstinacy  and  uncharitableness,  and  St.  Paul 
declares,  that  were  an  apostle  himself  to  give  his  body  to  be  burned  in 
such  a  disposition,  it  would  profit  him  nothing. 

6.  As  many  brave  Englishmen  have  laid  down  their  lives  in  the 
field  of  battle,  to  defend  their  country  against  the  French,  without 
being  properly  acquainted  with  the  liberties  and  boundaries  of  the 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  101 

British  empire  ;  so  many  Protestants  have  laid  down  their  lives  in 
Smithfield,  io  defend  their  religion  against  the  Papists,  without  heing 
acquainted  with  all  the  landmarks,  which  divide  the  land  of  spiritual 
Israel  from  that  of  the  Philistines,  and  perfect  Christianity  from  Anti- 
nomian  dotages. 

7.  The  Jews  can  produce  their  martyrs  as  well  as  the  Protestants. 
The  Maccabees^  for  example,  died  entirely  satisfied  with  the  Mosaic 
covenant,  and  strmgers  to  the  transcendent  glory  of  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation. But  is  this  a  sufficient  reason  for  preferring  Judaism  to 
Christianity  ? — Yes,  if  Mr.  Hilt  he  in  the  right,  when  he  decries  the 
doctrine  of  perfect  faith  and  perfect  love,  and  imposes  upon  us  the 
doctrine  of  a  death  purgatory,  hecause  some  good  men  formerly 
died  without  having  clear  views  of  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfec- 
tion ;  though  like  men  who  eat  honey  in  the  dark,  they  tasted  its 
sweetness,  and  delightfully  experienced  its  power. 

8.  To  conclude  :  I  am  persuaded,  that  were  all  our  Reformers  and 
martyrs  alive,  none  of  them  would  ohject  to  this  argument,  which 
sums  up  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Er)gland  with  respect  to  pur- 
gatory. If  death  cleanseth  us  from  indwelling  sin,  it  is  not  Christ's 
blood  applied  by  the  Spirit  through  faith.  But  the  only  purgatory 
wherein  we  [Christian  men]  trust  to  be  saved,  is  the  death  and  blood  of 
Christ,  which  if  we  apprehend  it  with  a  true  and  steadfast  faith, 
purgeth  and  cleanseth  us  from  all  our  sins.  The  blood  of  Christ,  says 
St.  John,  hath  cleansed  us  from  all  sin.  Horn,  on  Prayer,  Part  111. — 
Therefore,  the  doctrine  that  death,  &c.  cleanseth  us  from  all  indwelling- 
sin;  or  the  doctrine  of  a  death  purgatory,  is  as  contrary  to  the  doc- 
trine of  our  Church  as  to  that  of  St.  John. 

SECTION  V. 

Mr.  Hill  intimates  that  the  apostles  were  Imperfectionists. — St.  Peter  and 
St.  James,  far  from  pleading  for  a  death  purgatory,  stand  up  for 
Christian  perfection. 

When  Mr.  Hill  has  so  unadvisedly  brought  the  Church  of  England 
against  us,  it  is  not  surprising  to  see  him  press  four  apostles,  *'  Peter, 
Paul,  James,  and  John,'''  into  the  field,  to  ''  cut  up,  (as  he  calls  it) 
root  and  branch,  my  favourite  doctrine  of  perfection.^'  Never  were 
these  holy  men  set  upon  a  more  unholy  piece  of  work.  Methinks  I 
hear  them  say,  Let  Mr.  Hill  rank  us  with  the  Gibeoniles :  let  him 
make  us  hewers  of  wood  to  the  congregation  for  ever  :  but  let  him  not 
«et  us  upon  cutting  up  root  and  branch  the  lovely  and  fruitful  tree  of 


1^2  THE    LAST    CHECK 

Christian  perfection.  Happily  for  that  rare  tree,  Mr.  Hill  only  pro- 
duces  the  names  of  the  apostolic  woodmen,  while  we  produce  their 
axe^  and  show  that  they  lay  it  at  the  root  of  Antinomianism ; — a  deadly 
tree  this,  which  is  to  our  favourite  tree,  what  the  fatal  tree  in  para- 
dise was  to  the  tree  of  life.  Mr.  Hill  appeals  first  to  Peter ;  let  then 
Peter  first  answer  for  himself 

1.  Where  does  that  apostle  plead  for  Christian  imperfection,  and 
a  death  purgatory  ?  Is  it  where  he  says,  As  he  who  has  called  you  is 
HOLY  ;  so  be  ye  holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation  : — Seeing  you  have 
purified  your  souls^  ^c.  love  one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently  : 
• — Christ — left  us  an  example  that  ye  should  follow  his  steps :  who  dhi  n© 
SIN  : — who  bare  our  sins^  that  we,  being  dead  to  sin,  should  live  to 
righteousness ;  forasmuch  then  as  Christ  hath  suffered  for  us  in  the  fleshy 
arm  yourselves  with  the  same  mind ;  for  he  that  hath  suffered  in  iheflesk 
hath  ceased  from  sin. — The  God  of  all  grace,  ^c.  after  that  ye  have 
suffered  awhile,  make  you  perfect  ?  Had  Peter  been  against  our 
doctrine,  is  it  probable  that  he  would  thus  have  excited  believers  to 
attain  perfection  ;  wishing  it  them  as  we  wish  our  flocks  the  peace  of 
God  which  passes  all  understanding. 

If  that  apostle  pleads  not  for  the  necessary  indwelling  of  sin  in  his 
first  epistle,  doth  he  do  it  in  the  second  ?  Is  it  where  he  says,  that 
Exceeding  great  and  precious  promises  are  given  us,  that  by  these  we 
might  be  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  having  escaped  the  pollution 
that  is  in  the  world  through  lust  ?  Is  there  indwelling  sin  in  the  Divine 
nature  ?  And  can  those  people  whose  hearts  are  still  full  of  sin  and 
indwelling  corruption,  be  said  to  have  escaped  the  pollution  that  is  in 
the  world  through  lust  F  Might  not  a  man  whose  lungs  are  still  full  of 
dangerous  ulcers,  be  said  with  as  much  propriety  to  have  escaped  the 
misery  that  is  in  the  world  through  consumptions  ? — Is  it  where  St. 
Peter  describes  Christian  perfection,  and  exhorts  believers  to  attain  it, 
or  to  rise  higher  in  it,  by  adding  with  all  diligence  to  faith,  virtue — 
to  virtue,  knowledge— temperance — patience — godliness — brotherly  kind- 
ness — and  charity,  the  key  of  the  arch,  and  the  bond  of  perfection  ? — 
Is  it  where  he  states  the  difference  between  fallen  believers,  weak 
believers,  and  perfect  Christians ;  hinting,  that  the  first  lack  these 
things,  i.  e.  Christian  graces  ;  that  these  things  are  in  the  second:  and 
that  they  abound  in  the  third  ?  Or  is  it  where  he  bids  us  be  diligent 
that  we  may  be  found  of  God  in  peace,  without  spot  and  blameless  ? 
For  my  part,  I  do  not  see  here  the  shadow  of  a  plea  for  the  root  of 
every  evil  in  the  hearts  of  believers  till  they  die,  any  more  than  for 
{he  fruit  of  adultery,  murder,.and  incest,  in  their  lives  till  they  go 
hence. 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  1  D3 

Bnt  what  principally  strikes  us  in  Mr.  HilVs  appeal  to  St.  Peter  is, 
that  although  Petei-  was  naturally  led  by  his  subject  to  speak  of  the 
necessary  indwelling  of  sin  in  our  hearts  during  the  term  of  life,  if 
that  doctrine  had  been  true  ;  yet  he  does  not  so  much  as  drop  one 
hint  about  it.  The  design  of  his  first  epistle  was  undoubtedly  to  con- 
llrtn  believers  under  the  fiery  trials  which  their  faith  meets  with. 
You  are  kept,  sayS  he,  by  the  power  of  God,  through  [obedient]  faith 
iinto  salvation,  wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice,  though  now  for  a  season  (Jf 
need  he)  ye  are  in  heaviness  through  manifold  temptations.  What  a 
fiiir  opportunity  had  Peter  to  say  here,  without  an  if  need  be,  "  You 
MUST  be  in  heaviness,  not  only  through  manifold  temptations,  but  also 
through  the  remaining  corruptions  of  your  hearts  :  the  Canaanites 
and  vvild  beasts  must  still  dwell  in  the  land,  to  be  goads  in  your  sides, 
and  thorns  in  your  eyes,  or  you  would  grow  proud  and  careless  ; 
your  heart-leprosy  must  cleave  to  you,  as  GehazPs  leprosy  cleaved  to 
hira.  Death  radically  cured  him,  and  nothing  but  death  can  radically 
cure  you.  Till  then  your /leac/s  must  remain  full  of  imputed  right- 
eousness, and  your  hearts  full  of  indwellirig  si/t."  But  happily  for  the 
honour  of  Christianity,  this  Antinomian,  this  impure  Gospel  has  not 
the  least  countenance  from  St.  Peter :  and  he  cats  up  thfe  very  roots 
of  it  where  he  says — Who  shall  harm  you,  if  you  be  followers  of 
that  which  is  good? — Commit  the  keeping  of  your  souls  unto  God  in 
well-doing.  [The  very  reverse  of  sinning.] — You  are  his  daughters, 
[the  daughters  of  him  to  whom  God  said,  Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou, 
perfect^  so  long  a^  ye  do  well,  and  are  not  afraid  with  any  amazement, 
i.  e.  so  long  as  your  conduct  and  tempers  become  the  Gospel.  And 
every  body  knows,  that  a  man's  tempers  are  always  as  his  heart ;  and 
that,  if  his  heart  be  full  of  evil,  his  tempers  cannot  be  full  of  good- 
ness.    Rom.  iv.  14. 

II.  If  St.  Peter,  the  first  of  Mr.  HiWs  witnesses,  does  not  say  one 
word  to  countenance  Antinomianism,  and  to  recommend  Christian 
imperfection  ;  let  us  see  if  St.  James  pleads  for  Baal  in  the  hearts, 
any  more  than /or  Baal  in  the  lives,  of  perfect  believers.  Turn  to  his 
epistle,  O  ye  that  thirst  after  holiness  ;  to  your  comfort  you  will  find, 
that  in  the  first  chapter  he  shows  himself  a  bold  asserter  of  Chris- 
tian perfection.  Let  patience,  says  he,  have  her  perfect  work,  that  ye 
may  be  perfect,  and  entire,  wanting  nothing.  He  speaks  the  same 
I'anguage  in  other  places.  Whoso  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  of 
liberty,  and  continueth  therein,  he  being  a  doer  of  the  w<iRK, 
shall  he  blessed  in  his  deed. — And  again  : — If  any  man  ojjhxd  not  in 
word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man.     Nor  i«  if  difficult  to  demonstraff- 

Vor,   IV  -^r, 


194  THE  LAST  CHECK. 

from  his  second  chapter,  that  established  believers,  or  perfect  Chris- 
tians, keep  the  royal^  perfect  law  of  liberty;  and  that  those  who  break 
it  in  one  point  are  in  a  deplorable  case. 

If  Mr.  Wesley  had  written  an  epistle  to  Antinomian  believers,  to 
make  them  go  on  to  Christian  perfection,  could  he  have  expressed 
himself  in  a  stronger  manner  than  St.  James  does  in  the  following 
passages?  Grudge  riot  one  against  another y  brethren^  lest  ye  be  con- 
demned, [or  damned]  James  v.  9.  Speak  not  evil  one  of  another,  bre- 
thren. He  that  judgeth  his  brother  judgeth  the  law.  But  if  thou  judge 
the  law,  thou  art  not  a  doer  of  the  law,  but  a  judge.  There  is  one 
lawgiver,  who  is  able  to  save  and  to  destroy  [those  believers,  who  keep 
or  break  his  royal  law,]  James  iv.  11,  12. — Again  :  If  ye  fulfil  the 
ROYAL  LAW,  according  to  the  Scripture,  Thou  shall  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself,  ye  do  well  :  but  [if  ye  do  not  fulfil  it ;]  if  ye  have  respect  to 
persons,  ye  commit  sin.  For  whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and  yet 
offend  [i.  e.  commit  sin]  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all,  4*c.  So  speak 
ye,  and  so  do,  as  they  that  shall  be  judged  by  the  law  of  liberty,  James 
ii.  8,  &c. 

What  follows,  demonstrates  that  fallen  believers,  if  they  do  not 
repent  and  rise  to  the  state  of  Christian  perfection,  will  be  condemned 
for  one  sin.  St.  James  properly  instances  in  the  sin  of  uncharitable- 
ness,  because  it  is  directly  contrary  to  our  Lord's  new  commandment, 
of  loving  one  another  as  he  has  loved  us,  and  because  charity  is  the  ful- 
filling of  the  royal  law,  and  the  bond  of  perfection.  Can  faith  save  him, 
(the  uncharitable  believer)  says  St  James  ? — If  a  brother  or  sister  be 
naked,  and  destitute  of  daily  food,  and  one  of  you  [believers]  say.  Be  ye 
warmed  and  filled,  notwithstanding  ye  give  them  not  those  things  which 
are  needful  to  the  body,  what  doth  it  profit?  Even  so  faith,  if  it  hath  not 
works,  [and  of  consequence,  the  fallen  believer,  if  he  has  sin  unre- 
pented  of]  is  dead. — Such  a  one  25  of  the  devil,  for  he  committeth  sin, 
and  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law  of  liberty,  by  which  he  shall  be 
judged,  yea,  by  which  he  shall  have  judgment  without  mercy,  that  has 
[thus]  showed  no  mercy ;  whether  he  sinned  negatively  by  not  reliev- 
ing his  poor  brother  in  deed,  though  he  gave  him  good  words :  or 
whether  he  did  it  positively,  by  having  respect  to  persons,  or  by  grudg- 
ing against  his  brother.  Compare  James  ii.  13,  &c.  with  1  John  iii. 
4,  &c.  to  the  end  of  both  chapters,  which  are  two  strong  batteries 
raised  on  purpose  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection,  and 
to  demolish  the  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfection,  which  is  all  one 
with  Antinomianism. 

Should  it  be  objected,  that,  ''  at  this  rate,  no  Christian  believer  is 
Safe,  till  he  has  obtained  Christian  perfection  ;"  we  reply,  that  all 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  195 

Christian  believers  are  safe,  who  either  stand  in  it,  or  press  after  it. 
And  if  they  do  neither,  we  are  ready  to  prove,  that  they  rank  among 
fallen  believers,  and  are  in  as  imminent  danger  of  being  spewed  out  of 
Christ's  mouth  as  the  Laodiceans  were.  Let  Mr.  Hiil  candidly  read 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the  second  Epistle  of  St.  Peter,  and  the 
first  of  St.  John,  and  let  him  doubt  of  it  if  he  can. 

Should  i\lr.  Hill  object,  that  **  St.  James  himself  says,  In  many 
things  we  offend  all;  and  that  this  one  saying  abundantly  proves  that 
he  was  a  strong  imperfect ionist :"  I  beg  leave  to  involve  my  ho- 
noured opponent  in  the  following  dilemma.  Are  iheoff'ences  of  which 
St.  James  speaks  involuntary  ?  Or  are  they  voluntary  ?  \(  Mr.  Hill 
says,  They  are  involuntary,  I  answer.  Then  they  are  not  proper 
breaches  of  the  law  of  liberty  which  St.  James  preaches  ;  because 
that  law  curses  us  for  no  involuntary  offences  ;  and  therefore,  such 
offences,  [like  St.  Paul  s  reproving  of  the  High  Priest  more  sharply 
than  he  would  have  done,  had  he  known  what  high  dignity  his  unjust 
judge  was  invested  with,]  such  offences,  I  say,  are  not  sins  according  to 
the  royal  and  evangelical  law  of  our  Melchisedec ;  and  therefore  they  do 
not  prove  that  all  believers  remain  full  of  indwelling  sin  till  death. — 
If  Mr.  Hill  reply,  that  '*  The  many  offences  of  which  St.  James 
speaks,  are  voluntary  offences,  and  therefore  real  breaches  of  the 
law  of  liberty  ;^^  I  answer,  that  this  genuine  sense  of  the  words,  taken 
in  connexion  with  the  context,  confirms  our  doctrine  of  Christian 
perfection,  and  our  opposition  to  Antinomianism  ;  and  1  prove  it 
thus  : 

The  text  and  context  runs  thus  :  My  brethren,  be  not  many  masters  : 
[i.  e.  lord  it  not  over  one  another  ;]  knowing  that  we  [who  do  so]  shall 
receive  the  greater  condemnation  if  we  do  not  learn  humility.  I  say, 
we,  because  I  would  not  have  you  think  that  God  our  Judge  is  a 
respecter  of  persons,  and  will  spare  an  apostle  who  breaks  the  law 
of  liberty,  and  does  not  repent,  any  more  than  he  would  spare  you. 
For  if  1  represented  God  as  a  partial  judge,  Judas's  greater  condem- 
nation would  prove  me  mistaken.  And  I  insist  the  more  upon  this 
awful  doctrine,  because  in  many  things  we  offend  all,  especially  in 
word,  till  we  are  made  perfect  in  love,  that  love  which  is  the  fulfilling 
of  the  law,  and  enables  us  to  keep  our  tongue  as  it  were  with  a  bridle 
all  the  day  long. — If  Mr.  Hill  ask,  by  what  means  I  can  show,  that 
this  is  really  St.  James's  meaning :  I  reply  ;  by  that  plain  rule  of 
divinity  and  criticism,  which  bids  us  take  the  beginning  of  a  verse 
in  connexion  with  the  end.  And  if  ive  do  this  here,  we  find  the  doc- 
trine of  Christian  perfection  in  this  very  text,  thus  :  We  shall  receive 
the  greater  damnation  if  we  do  not  rrpent  and  r.ease  to  he  many  mas- 


196  THE    LAST    CHECK 

o 

ters :  for  in  many  things  we  from  Hme  to  time  offend  all,  especially  by 
our  words,  till  we  are  perfected  in  love.  If  any  man  offend  not  in 
ta)ord,  the  same  is,  what  each  of  us  should  be,  a  perfect  man,  and  able 
also  to  bridle  his  whole  body;  James  iii.  I,  2.— So  certain  therefore, 
as  there  are  men  able  to  bridle  their  tongue,  and  their  whole  bodies, 
there  are  men  perfect  in  the  body — perfect  before  death,  according 
to  the  doctrine  contained  in  this  controverted  passage  of  St.  James. 

"  But  St.  James  says  also,  The  spirit  that  dweUeth  in  us  lusteih  to 
envy.  James  iv.  5." 

I  reply  :  1.  It  is  usual  for  modest  teachers  to  rank  themselves  with 
the  persons,  of  whom  they  say  something  disagreeable  :  and  this  they 
do  to  take  away  the  harshness  of  their  doctrine,  and  to  make  way  for 
the  severity  of  their  charges.  Thus  Peter  writes.  The  time  past  of 
our  life  may  suffice  us  to  have  wrought  the  will  of  the  Gentiles^  when  we 
walked  in  lasciviousness,  lusts,  excess  of  wine,  revellings,  banquetings, 
and  abominable  idolatries  :  though  it  is  evident  that  Peter,  a  poor, 
industrious,  godly  Jew,  never  walked  in  abominable  idolatries ;  working 
the  will  of  the  Gentiles.  Now  the  same  delicacy  of  charity,  which 
made  St.  Peter  rank  himself  with  heathens,  who  walked  in  drunken- 
ness, whoredom,  and  gross  idolatry,  makes  St.  James  rank  him- 
self with  the  carnal  Christians,  who  are  possessed  by  an  envious 
spirit. 

2.  Nay,  St.  James  himself,  using  the  same  figure  of  speech,  says. 
The  tongue  is  an  unruly  evil,  full  of  deadly  poison,  <^c,  therewith  curse 
we  men,  who  are  made  after  the  similitude  of  God.  But  would  it  be 
reasonable  to  infer  from  these  words,  that  his  tongue  was  still  full  of 
deadly  poison,  and  that  he  therewith  continued  to  curse  his  neighbour  ? 
Therefore  all  that  is  implied  in  his  words  about  envy,  is  that,  till  we 
are  made  perfect  in  the  charity  which  envieth  not,  and  is  not  puffed 
up,  the  spirit  that  is  in  us  lusteth  to  envy  and  pride.  And  that  we,  who 
have  not  yet  attained  Christian  perfection,  need  not  be  always  envious 
and  proud,  is  evident  from  the  very  next  words.  But  he  giveth  more 
grace,  wherefore  he  says,  God  resisteth  the  proud,  envious  man,  but 
giveth  grace  to  the  humble  ; — Resist  the  devil,  and  he  will  flee  from  you  : 
— purify  your  hearts,  ye  double-minded :  Be  afHicied,  and  mourn,  and 
weep  :  let  your  laughter  be  turned  into  mourning,  and  your  joy  into 
heaviness  :  so  severe  was  St.  James  to  those  adulterers  and  adul- 
teresses, those  genteel  believers,  who  stopped  short  of  Christian  per- 
fection, loved  the  world,  and  envied  one  another!  Therefore,  to 
press  him  into  the  service  of  Solifidianism,  is  as  rash  an  attempt  as  to 
•all  his  Epistle  an  Epistle  of  strazv,  worthy  of  being  coreimitted  to  the 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  1  97 

dames  ;  and  [if  the  preceding  remarks  are  just]  Mr.  Hill  is  as  much 
mistaken,  when  he  appeals  to  St.  James,  as  when  he  quotes  St.  Peter, 
in  defence  of  Christian  imperfection 


SECTION  VI 

^S'^  Paul  preached  Christian  Perfection,  and  professed  to  have  attained 
it. — A  view  of  the  different  Sorts  of  Perfection  which  belong  to  the 
diff'erent  Dispensations  of  Grace  and  GJory. — The  holy  Child  Jesus's 
Imperfection  in  Knowledge  andSvffering^  and  his  growing  in  Wisdom 
and  Stature,  and  i7i  Favour  with  God  and  Man,  were  entirely  con- 
sistent with  his  Perfection  of  Humble  Love. 

St.  Paul's  name  appears  upon  Mr.  HilVs  list  of  witnesses  against 
Christian  perfection  ;  but  it  ts  without  the  apostle's  consent ;  for 
Peter  and  James  did  not  plead  more  strenuously  for  the  glorious 
liberty  of  God's  children  than  St.  Paul.  Nay,  he  professed  to  have 
attained  it,  and  addressed  Fathers  in  Christ  as  persons  that  were  par- 
takers of  it  together  with  himself.  "  We  speak  wisdom  (says  he) 
among  them  that  are  perfect,"  1  Cor.  ii.  6. — "  Let  us,  as  many  as 
be  perfect,  be  thus  minded,"  Phil.  iii.  \5. 

Nor  did  Paul  fancy  that  Christian  perfection  was  to  be  confined  to 
the  apostolic  order  :  for  he  wanted  all. believers  to  be  like  him  in  this 
respect.  Hence  it  is,  that  he  exhorted  the  Corinthians  to  perfect 
holiness  in  the  fear  of  Gody  2  Cor.  vii.  1.  to  be  perfect,  2  Cor.  xiii.  II. 
to  be  perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same  mind,  1  Cor.  i.  10.  and  showed 
them  the  perfect,  or  more  excellent  way,  1  Cor.  xiii. — He  told  the 
Ephesians,  that  God  gave  pastors  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, — till 
all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith, — unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure 
of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ; — Eph.  iv.  12,  13. — He  taught 
every  man,  &.C.  that  he  might  present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Col.  i.  28. — He  wanted  the  Colossians  fully  to  put  on  charity,  which 
is  the  bond  of  perfection, — that  they  might  stand  perfect  and  complete  in 
all  the  will  of  God,  Col.  iii.  14.  iv.  12.  He  would  have  the  man  of 
God  to  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  to  every  good  work,  2  Tim.  iii. 
17. — He  exhorted  his  converts,  whether  they  did  cat,  drink,  or  do  any 
thing  else,  to  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus ; 
rejoicing  evermore,  praying  without  ceasing,  and  in  every  thing  giving 
thanks  :  that  is,  he  exhorted  them  to  walk  according  to  the  strictest 
rules  of  Christian  perfection. — He  blamed  the  Hebrews  for  being  still 


198  THE    LAST    CHECK 

such  as  have  need  of  milk,  and  not  of  strong  meat;  observing  that 
strong  meat,  erri  reXetm,  belongeth  to  them  that  are  perfect,  even  to  them 
tJDho  by  reason  of  use,  or  experience,  have  their  [spiritual]  senses  exer- 
cised to  discern  both  good  and  evil,  Heb.  v.  12,  &c.  He  begins  the 
next  chapter  by  exhorting  them  to  go  on  to  perfection ;  intimating 
that,  if  they  do  not,  they  may  insensibly  fall  away,  put  the  Son  of  God 
to  open  shame,  and  not  be  renewed  again  to  repetitance.  And  he  con- 
cludes the  whole  epistle  by  a  pathetic  wish,  that  the  God  of  peace 
would  moke  them  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will.  Hence  it 
appears,  that  it  would  not  be  less  unreasonable  to  set  St.  Paul  upon 
ci-ucifying  Christ  afresh,  than  to  make  him  attack  Christ's  well-known 
doctrine,  Be  ye  [morally]  perfect,  [according  to  your  narrow  capacity 
and  bounded  power]  even  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  [morally]  perfect 
[in  his  infinite  nature,  and  boundless  Godhead]  Matt.  v.  48. 

Mr.  Hill  will  probably  attempt  to  set  all  these  Scriptures  aside,  by 
saying,  that  nothing  can  be  more  absurd,  than  to  represent  Paul  as  a 
perfectionist,  because  he  says  himself,  Not  as  though  I  had  already 
attained,  or  were  already  perfect,  Phil.  iii.  12.  But  some  remarks 
upon  the  different  sorts  of  perfection,  and  upon  the  peculiar  per- 
fection, which  the  apostle  said  he  had  not  yet  attained,  will  easily 
solve  this  difficulty. 

3Ir.  Hill  is  too  well  acquainted  with  divinity  not  to  know  that 
absolute  perfection  belongs  to  God  alone,  and  that  Christ  himself,  with 
respect  to  his  humanity,  fell  and  still  falls  short  of  infinite  perfection, 
omniscience,  and  a  wisdom  admitting  of  no  growth,  are  essential  to 
absolute  perfection  :  but  the  man  Christ  was  not  omniscient ;  for  he 
did  not  know  the  day  of  judgment :  nor  was  his  wisdom  infinite,  for  he 
grew  in  wisdom.  Nay,  his  happiness  is  not  yet  absolute,  for  it  dailj' 
increases  as  he  sees  his  seed,  and  is  more  and  more  satisfied.  God 
alone  is  supremely  perfect  :  all  beings  are  imperfect  when  they  are 
compared  to  him  :  and  though  all  his  works  were  perfect  in  their 
places,  yet,  as  he  gave  them  different  degrees  of  perfection,  they 
which  have  inferior  degrees  of  goodness  may  be  said  to  be  imperfect 
in  comparison  of  them  which  are  endued  with  superior  degrees  of 
excellence.  Thus  archangels  are  perfect  as  archangels,  but  imper- 
fect in  comparison  of  Jesus  Christ.  Angels  are  perfect  as  angels, 
but  imperfect  in  comparison  of  archangels.  Enoch,  Elijah,  and  the 
saints  who  arose  with  our  Lord,  are  perfect  as  glorified  saints  ;  and, 
in  comparison  of  them,  the  departed  spirits  of  just  men  rnade  perfect 
continue  in  a  state  of  imperfection  :  for  the  risen  saints  are  glorified 
in  body  and  soul,  but  the  mouldered  bodies  of  departed  saints,  not 
having  yet  felt  the  power  of  Chrisfs  resurrection^  are  still  under  the 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  199 

power  of  corruption.  Imperfect  as  St.  Paul  and  St.  John  are  now, 
in  comparison  of  Enoch,  Ehjah,  and  the  tW(^nty-four  elders  so  often 
mentioned  by  St.  John  ;  yet  they  are  far  more  perfect  than  when  they 
were  pressed  down  by  a  corruptible  body,  under  which  they  groaned 
being  burdened:  fo\  the  diseml)odied  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect 
are  more  perfect  than  the  most  perfect  Christians,  who  are  yet  in  a 
body  dead  because  of  sin.  And,  as  among  rich  men  some  are  richer 
than  others  :  or  among  tall  men,  some  are  taller  than  others  ;  so 
among  perfect  Christians,  some  are  more  perfect  than  others. 

According  to  the  gradation  which  belongs  to  all  the  works  of  God  ; 
and  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  dispensations  of  divine  grace  ; 
the  least  perfect  of  all  perfect  Christians  is  more  perfect  than  the 
most  perfect  Jew  ;  yea,  than  John  the  Baptist,  whose  dispensation 
linked  together  Judaism  and  Christianity.  Or,  to  speak  the  language 
of  our  Lord,  He  that  is  the  least  in  the  [Christian]  kingdom  of  God^  is 
greater  than  John;  though  John  himself  was  the  greatest  born  of  a 
woman  under  any  preceding  dispensation.  By  the  same  rule,  he  that 
is  perfect  under  the  Jewish  dispensation,  is  more  perfect  than  he  that 
is  only  perfect  according  to  the  dispensation  of  the  Gentiles. 

The  standard  of  these  different  perfections  is  tixed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. To  fear  God  and  work  righteousness,  i.  e.  to  do  to  others  as 
we  would  be  done  to,  from  the  principle  of  the  fear  of  God,  is  the 
standard  of  a  Gentile's  perfection.  The  standard  of  a  Jew's  perfec- 
tion with  respect  to  morality  may  be  seen  in  Deut.  xxvii  14 — 26. 
and  in  Ps.  xv.  And,  with  respect  to  devotion,  it  is  fixed  in  Ps.  cxix. 
The  whole  of  this  perfection  is  thus  summed  lip  by  Micah  : — Olsraely 
what  does  the  Lord  thy  God  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justice,  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God? 

The  perfection  of  infant  Christianity,  which  is  called  in  the  Scrip- 
tures the  baptism  of  John,  is  thus  described  by  John  and  by  Christ : — 
He  that  hath  two  coats,  let  him  impart  to  him  that  hath  none,  4*c.  If  thou 
wilt  be  perfect,  sell  what  thou  hast,  give  to  the  poor,  and  follow  me. — 
If  any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate  not  [i.  e.  is  not  willing  for  my  sake  to 
leave]  his  father  and  mother,  his  wife  and  children,  yea,  and  his  own 
life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple.  And  whosoever  does  not  bear  his 
cross,  and  come  after  me,  cannot  be  jny  disciple. 

With  respect  to  adult,  perfect  Christianity,  which  is  consequent 
upon  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  administered  by  Christ  himself, 
its  perfection  is  described  in  the  sermon  upon  the  Motint,  in  1  Cor. 
xiii.  and  in  all  those  parts  of  the  Epistles,  where  the  apostles  exhort 
believers  to  walk  agreeably  to  the  glorious  liberty  of  God's  rhildrcv. 


^00  THE    LAST    CHECK 

The  perfection  of  disembodied  spirits  is  thus  described  by  a  voitS 
from  heaven : — Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord :  even  so,  saith 
the  Spirit,  far  they  rest  from  their  labours^  [not  from  their  sins  ;  this 
they  did  before  death  :]  and  their  works  follow  them. — And  the  com- 
plete perfection  of  glorified  saints  is  thus  described  by  St.  John  and 
St.  Paul. — They  shall  live  and  reign  with  Christ  in  a  city  ^herein  there 
is  no  temple,  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple 
of  it,  and  the  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun  to  shine  in  it,  for  the  glory 
of  God  enlightens  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof. — And  there  shall 
be  no  curse :  but  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it,  and 
his  servants  shall  serve  him,  and  they  shall  see  his  face  ;  and  his  name 
shall  be  on  their  foreheads,  and  they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever,  in 
glorified  bodies. — For  this  corruptible  body  shall  put  on  incorruption, 
and  this  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality. — It  is  sown  in  dishonour,  it  is 
raised  in  glory  :  it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power  :  it  is  sown 
a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body  :  as  is  the  heavenly  Adam^ 
such  are  they  also  that  are  heavenly :  and  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of 
the  earthly,  we  shall  also  .bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly :  for  flesh  and 
blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God:  but  the  spiritual,  i.  e.  the 
glorified  body,  shall  inherit  the  heavenly  Canaan. 

Persons  whose  orthodoxy  consists  in  obstinately  refusing  to  peep 
over  the  wall  of  prejudice  ;  will  probably  say,  that  these  observa- 
tions upon  the  different  sorts  and  degrees  of  perfection,  are  "  novel 
chimeras ;"  and  that  I  multiply  perfections  as  I  do  justifications : 
"  inventing  them  by  the  dozen."  To  this  I  answer,  that  we  advance 
nothing  but  what,  we  hope,  recommends  itself  to  the  candour  of  those 
who  have  a  regard  for  reason  and  revelation. 

1.  Reason  tells  us,  that  all  God's  works  are  perfect  in  their  places  : 
and  that  some  having  a  higher  place  than  others  upon  the  scale  of 
beings,  they  are  of  consequence  more  perfect.  If  Mr.  Hill  will  not 
believe  it,  we  appeal  to  his  banker,  and  ask,  if  there  is  not  an  essen- 
tial difference  between  the  metallic  perfection  of  brass,  that  of  silver^ 
and  that  of  gold  ? — We  appeal  to  his  jeweller,  and  ask,  if  the  perfec- 
tion of  an  agate  is  not  inferior  to  that  of  an  emerald — the  perfection 
of  a  ruby,  to  that  of  a  diamond  ;  and  if  some  diamonds  cannot  be  said 
to  be  more  perfect  than  others  ? — We  appeal  to  his  gardener,  and 
ask  if  a  blackberry  is  not  inferior  to  a  strawberry,  a  strawberry  to  a 
nectarine,  a  nectarine  to  a  pine-apple :  and  if  nevertheless  those 
various  fruits  have  not  each  their  perfection  ? — Nay,  we  will  venture 
to  ask  his  under-gardener,  if  the  perfection  of  the  fruit  does  not 
imply  the  perfection  of  the  blossom  :  if  the  perfection  of  the  bio? 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  201 

som  does  not  presuppose  that  of  the  hm\ ;  and  if  a  bud,  whose  per- 
fection is  destroyed  by  (he  frost  in  March,  is  likely  to  produce  perfect 
blossoms  in  May,  and  perfect  fruit  in  October? 

Should  the  fear  of  becoming  a  perfectionist  make  Mr.  Hiil  refuse 
his  assent  to  these  obvious  truths,  we  will  address  him  as  a  Master 
of  Arts,  a  gentleman  who  is  versed  in  Natural  Philosophy,  as  well  as 
in  Calvinism.  Is  it  absurd  to  say,  that  some  just  men  rise  progres- 
sively from  the  perfection  of  a  lo^er  to  the  perfection  of  a  higher 
dispensation  in  the  spiritual  world  ? — Do  we  not  see  a  similar  promo- 
tion, even  among  the  basest  classes  of  animals  in  the  natural  world? 
Consider  that  beautiful  insect,  which  exults  to  display  its  crown,  and 
to  expand  its  wings  in  the  sun.  Will  you  not  say  that  it  is  a  perfect 
hutterfiy?  Nevertheless  three  weeks  a^ro  it  was  a  perfect  aurelia, 
quietly  sleeping  in  its  silken  tomb.  Some  months  before  it  was  a 
perfect  silkworm,  busily  preparing  itself  for  another  state  of  existence, 
by  spinning  and  weaving  its  shroud.  And  had  you  seen  it  a  year  ago, 
you  would  have  seen  nothing  but  a  perfect  egg.  Thus  in  one  year, 
it  has  experienced  three  grand  changes,  which  may  be  called  meta- 
morphoses, births,  or  conversions.  Each  change  was  perfect  in  its 
kind  :  and  nevertheless,  the  last  is  as  far  superior  to  the  first,  as  a 
beautiful,  flying  butterfly  exceeds  a  black,  crawling  worm  ;  and  such 
a  worm,  the  invisible  seed  of  life,  that  lies  dormant  in  the  diminutive 
egg  of  an  insect. 

2.  Scripture  and  experience  do  not  support  our  doctrine  of  the 
difiference  of  perfections,  less  than  reason  and  philosophy.  We 
read,  Gen.  vi.  9.  that  JVoah  was  a  just  man,  and  perfect  in  his  gene- 
ration. We  read  also.  Job  i.  1.  There  was  a  man  in  the  land  of  Uz, 
whose  name  was  Job,  and  that  man  was  perfect.  Now  whatever  the 
perfection  of  JVoah  and  Job  consisted  in,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  not 
Jewish  perfection  :  for  the  perfection  of  Judaism  requires  the  sacra- 
ment of  circumcision,  and  Mr.  Hill  will  hardly  say,  that  men  were  cir- 
cumcised in  the  land  of  Uz,  and  before  the  flood.  Hence  1  conclude 
that  Noah  and  Job  had  attained  the  perfection  of  Gentilism,  and  not 
that  of  Judaism. 

Again  :  Mark  the  perfect  man,  says  David, /or  his  end  is  peace.  No 
doubt  he  spake  this  of  the  perfect  Jew ;  and  such  were,  I  think, 
Moses,  Samuel,  and  Daniel ;  if  Mr.  Hill  will  not  allow  it,  I  produce 
Simeon,  or  Anna,  or  Zacharias  and  Elisabeth,  who  were  righteous  before 
God,  walking  in  all  the  commandments  and  ordinances,  of  God  blameless. 
Luke  i.  16.  Now  these  excellent  Jews  were  not  perfect  according  to 
the  dispensation  of  John  the  Baptist  ;  for  water  baptism  was  not  less 
essential  to  a  perfect  disciple  of  John,  than  circumcision  was  to  a  perfect 

Vol.  IV.  20 


202  THE    LAST    CHECK 

disciple  of  Moses,  and  they,  or  some  of  (hem,  probably  died  long  before 
John  opened  his  dispensation  by  preaching  the  baptism  of  repentance. 
Once  more  :  John  the  Baptist  was  undoubtedly  perfect  according 
to  his  own  dispensation  ;  his  penitential  severity,  his  great  reputation 
for  holiness,  and  the  high  encomium  which  our  Lord  passed  upon 
him,  naturally  lead  us  to  conclude  it.  But  that  he  was  not  a  perfect 
Christian  is  evident  from  the  following  considerations  :  1.  Our  Lord 
said,  that  the  least  in  the  [Christian  kingdom]  of  God  should  be  greater 
than  John.— 2,  John  himself  confessed  the  imperfection  of  his  bap- 
tism, or  dispensation,  in  comparison  of  the  perfection  of  Christ's  bap- 
tism and  spiritual  dispensation  :  I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  thee,  said 
he  to  Christ,  and  comest  thou  to  me?  And  to  his  disciples  he  said,  / 
indeed  baptize  you  with  water,  but  he  [the  Lamb  of  God]  shall  baptize 

you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire 3.  John  was  beheaded  before 

Christ  was  crucified  ;  and  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  the  baptism 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  did  not  begin  till  after  Christ^s  ascension;  the 
apostle  St.  Joh?i  having  particularly  mentioned,  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  not  yet  given,  or  that  the  full  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  was  not 
opened,  because  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified,  John  vii.  39  ;  an  important 
observation  this,  which  is  confirmed  by  Christ's  own  words  to  his 
disciples,  John  xvi.  7.  1  tell  you  the  truth;  it  is  expedient  for  you  that 
I  go  away ,  for  if  I  go  not  away  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you : 
[the  full  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  opened  :]  but  if  I 
depart,  1  will  send  him  to  you.  Agreeably  to  this,  he  commanded  them 
that  they  should  not  depart  from  Jerusale?n,  but  zvaitfor  the  promise  of  the 
Father  [i.  e.  the  promised  Spirit]  which,  says  he,  ye  have  heard  of  me : 
for  John  truly  baptized  with  water ;  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence.  And  when  they  had  thus  been  bap- 
tized, they  began  to  preach  the  full  baptism  of  Christ,  which  has  two 
branches,  the  baptism  of  water,  and  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  or  of 
celestial  fire.  Therefore,  when  the  penitent  Jews  asked,  Ji'Jen  and 
brethren,  what  shall  we  do  ?  Peter  answered,  Be  baptized  every  one  of 
you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost:  for  the  promise  of  it  is  unto  you,  and  unto  your  children,  and  to 
all  that  are  afar  off;  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call  to 
the  perfection  of  the  Christian  dispensation  : — And  ztDc  are  witnesses 
of  these  things  ;  and  so  also  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  God  [since  the  day 
of  Pentecost]  hath  given  to  them  that  obey  him,  i.  e.  to  obedient 
believers.     Compare  Acts  ii.  38.  and  v.  32.  with  John  vii.  39. 

From  the  preceding  reasons  vve  conclude,  that  the  case  of  John 
the  Baptist  was  as  singular  as  that  of  Moses.  Moses  knew  Joshua, 
rmd  pointed  him  out,  as  the  man  who  was  to  lead  the  Israelites  into  the 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  203 

land  of  promise  :  but  Moses  died  before  Joshua  opened  the  way. 
Thus  Moses  saw  the  good  land  :  he  was  not  far  from  the  typical 
kingdom  of  God  ;  but  he  did  not  enter  into  it.  In  like  manner, 
the  Baptist  knew  Christ,  and  pointed  him  out  as  the  wonderful 
person  who  was  to  introduce  believers  into  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  God.  But  John  was  beheaded  before  Christ  glorified  opened 
his  peculiar  kingdom.  Thus  John  saw  the  kingdom  of  heaven  : 
he  was  not  far  from  it.  But  yet  he  did  not  enter  into  it.  He 
died  a  just  man^  made  perfect  according  to  his  own  incomplete  dis- 
pensation, but  not  according  to  the  dispensation  of  Christ  and  hig 
Spirit.  This  was  the  Baptist's  grief,  not  his  guilt :  for  he  earnestly 
desired  to  be  baptized  of  Christ  with  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  not  yet  given  in  the  Christian  measure.  The  gift  of  the 
Spirit  was  rather  distilled  as  a  dew,  than  poured  out  as  a  shower : 
because  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified:  but  now,  that  he  is  ascended  up 
on  high  to  receive  that  unspeakable  gift  for  men  in  its  fulness: — 
now  that  the  promise  of  the  Father  is  fulfilled  to  all  who  plead  it 
aright ;  we  are  culpable,  if  we  rest  satisfied  with  the  inferior  mani-' 
festalions  of  the  Spirit,  which  belong  to  the  baptism  of  John,  or  to 
infant  Christianity  ;  and  we  act  in  an  unchristianlike  manner,  if  we 
ridicule  the  kingdom  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  speak  evil  of  perfect 
Christianity. 

To  return  :  a  perfect  Gentile  sees  God  in  his  works  and  provi* 
dences  :  but,  wanting  a  more  particular  manifestation  of  his  existence 
and  goodness,  he  sighs,  O  where  shall  I  find  him? — A  perfect /ea? 
ardently  expects  his  coming  as  Messiah  and  Emmanuel,  or  God  zvith 
us ;  and  he  groans,  O  that  thou  wouldst  rend  the  heavens  and  come 
dovDn! — A  perfect  Disciple  of  John  believes  that  the  Messiah  is  come 
in  the  flesh,  and  prays,  O  Lamb  of  God,  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the 
world,  restore  the  kingdom  to  a  waiting  Israelite  :  baptize  me  with  the 
Holy  Ghost :  fill  me  with  the  Spirit. — And  perfect  Christians  can  wit- 
ness, from  blessed  experience,  that  he  who  was  manifest  in  the  fleshy 
is  come  in  the  Spirit's  power  to  establish  within  them  his  gracious 
kingdom  of  righteousness,  peace^  and  joy,  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  this  blessed  kingdom,  St.  Paul  lived,  when  he  said,  Let  usy  as 
many  as  are  perfect,  be  thus  minded.  Nevertheless,  though  he  was  not 
only  a  perfect  Christian,  but  also  able  to  preach  wisdom  among  them 
that  were  perfect,  he  justly  acknowledges  himself  imperfect  in  know- 
ledge, in  comparison  of  perfectly  glorified  saints.  IVe  know  but  in 
party  says  he,  but  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  then  that  which  is  in 
part  shall  be  done  away  :  for  now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but 
when  we  shall   drop  these   dark   veils   of  flesh  and  blood,  and   hp 


204  THE    LAbT    CHECK 

clothed  with  celestial^  incorruptible  bodies,  we  shall  be  capable  of 
beholding  God,  we  shall  see  him  face  to  face.  1  Cor.  xiii.  9,  &,c. 
For  though  we  are  now  the  sons  of  God^  it  does  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be:  but  we  know  that  when  he  shall  appear^  we  shall  be  like  him, 
for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.      1  John  iii.  2. 

It  is  of  this^^nai  perfecting  of  the  saints  in  the  day  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, that  the  apostle  writes  to  the  Hebrews,  where  he  says,  These 
having  all  obtained  a  good  report  through  faith^  received  not  the  pro- 
mise which  relates  to  the  full  perfection  of  the  just :  God  having  pro- 
vided some  better  things  for  us  [Christians]  that  they  [the  Jewish  saints] 
without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect^  [i.  e.  that  we  should  all  be  per- 
fected in  glory  together.] — For  we  shall  be  changed  in  a  moment,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump  {for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and 
the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible)  and  we,  who  shall  have  died,  or 
shall  then  be  found  living  in  a  state  of  initial  perfection,  shall  be 
changed.     Heb.  xi.  39.     1  Cor.  xv.  61. 

Nor  does  it  follow  from  hence,  that  all  glorified  saints  shall  be 
equally  perfect.  I  cannot  but  embrace  here  the  reasonable  sentiment 
of  Dr.  Watts.  **  The  worship  of  heaven,"  says  that  judicious  divine, 
"  and  the  joy  that  attends  it,  may  be  exceedingly  different  in  degrees, 
according  to  the  different  capacities  in  spirits  ;  and  yet  all  may  be 
perfect,  and  free  from  sinful  defects.  Does  not  the  sparrow  praise 
its  Maker  upon  the  ridge  of  a  cottage,  chirping  in  its  native  perfec- 
tion ?  And  yet  the  lark  advances,  in  her  flight  and  song,  as  far  above 
the  sparrow  as  the  clouds  are  above  the  housetop.  Surely  superior 
joys  and  glories  must  belong  to  superior  powers  and  services.  The 
word  perfection  does  not  always  imply  equality.  If  all  the  souls  in 
heaven  be  of  one  mould,  make,  and  inclination  ;  yet  there  may  be 
different  sizes  of  capacity  even  in  the  same  genus,  and  a  different 
degree  of  preparation  for  the  same  delights  ;  therefore  should  all  the 
spirits  of  the  just  be  uniform  in  their  natures  and  pleasures,  and  all 
perfect ;  yet  one  spirit  may  possess  more  happiness  and  glory  than 
another,  because  it  is  more  capacious  of  intellectual  blessings,  and 
better  prepared  for  them.  So  when  vessels  of  various  size  are  thrown 
into  the  same  ocean,  there  will  be  a  great  difference  in  the  quantity 
of  the  liquid  which  they  receive  ;  though  all  may  be  full  to  the  brim, 
and  all  made  of  the  richest  metal."  Watts  on  the  Happiness  of  Sepa- 
rate Spirits. 

Having  thus  proved,  both  by  reason  and  Scripture,  that  there  are 
various  sorts  and  degrees  of  perfection  ;  and  that  a  man  may  be 
perfect  according  to  the  dispensation  of  divine  grace  he  is  under  upon 
earth,  though  he  be  not  yet  perfect  according   to  the  dispensation  of 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  205 

divine  glory,  which  will  take  place,  when  our  mortal  bodies  shall  know 
the  power  of  Christ's  resurrection  :  having  proved  this,  I  say,  nothing 
is  easier  than  to  reconcile  St.  Paul  with  himself,  when  he  speaks  in 
the  same  chapter  of  his  being  perfect,  and  of  his  not  being  yet  perfect. 
For  when  he  says,  Lei  us,  as  many  as  are  perfect,  be  thus  minded,  he 
speaks  of  Christian  perfection,  that  is,  of  the  maturity  of  grace  and 
holiness,  which  men,  still  burdened  with  corruptible  flesh  and  blood, 
arrive  at  under  the  full  dispensation  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  But 
when  he  says,  JVot  as  though  I  had  already  attained,  or  were  already 
perfect,  ^c.  he  speaks  of  his  perfection  as  a  candidate  for  a  crown  of 
martyrdom  on  earth,  and  for  a  erown  of  glory  in  heaven.  Just  as  if 
he  said.  Though  I  am  dead  to  sin  and  perfected  in  love  : — though  / 
live  not,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  yet  I  am  not  satisfied  with  my  present 
perfection  ;  1  want  to  be  perfected  like  Christ.  Ought  not  Christ  to 
have  suffered  these  things,  and  [then]  to  enter  into  his  glory?  Luke 
xxiv.  26.  I  want,  in  short,  to  be  perfected  in  siiffering,  as  well  as 
in  love.  I  cannot,  1  will  not  rest  till  1  end  my  race  of  pain  and  shame, 
and  know  the  fellowship  of  ChrisVs  sufferings  on  the  ignominious  tree. 
I  am  filled  with  a  noble  ambition  of  dying  a  martyr  for  him  ;  being 
persuaded  that  this  perfection  of  sufferings  will  ripen  me  for  my  hea- 
venly perfection, — the  perfection  to  which  I  shall  be  raised  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  just. 

That  this  was  the  apostle's  meaning  when  he  denied  his  being 
already  made  perfect,  will,  I  hope,  appear  indubitable  to  those  who 
consider  the  context.  The  words  which  immediately  precede  St.  Paul's 
observation,  that  he  had  not  yet  attained,  express  a  pathetic  wish  of 
sharing  both  in  Christ's  exaltation,  by  a  glorious  resurrection,  and  in 
his  humiliation  by  perfect  sufferings,  lliat  1  may  know  him,  as  he 
says,  and  the  power  of  his  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship  of  his  suffer- 
ings, being  made  conformable  unto  his  painful,  ignominious  death,  if  by 
any  means  I  may  attain  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  which  is  the 
full  perfection  of  the  human  nature  ;  and  secure  a  part  in  ihe  first 
resurrection  of  the  just,  in  which  martyrs  will  be  peculiarly  interested  ; 
witness  this  plain  Scripture,  /  saw  the  souls  of  them  that  were  beheaded 
for  the  witness  of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  &.c.  and  they  lived  and 
reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years  :  but  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not 
again  until  the  thousand  years  were  finished.  This  is  the  first  resurrec- 
tion. Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  has  part  in  the  first  resurrection.  Rev. 
XX.  4,  kc. 

But  1  repeat  it,  although  St.  Paul  disclaimed  his  having  yet  attained 
a  perfection  o(  shame  and  glory,  he  nevertheless  professed  his  having 
attained  a  perfection  of  Christian  faith  working  by  love.       This  is 


20G  THE    LAST    CHECK 

evident  from  the  words  that  follow  the  controverted  text  :  This  one 
thing  I  do,  he.  I  press  towards  the  inarkfor  the  prize  of  the  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  [which  is  my  complete  glorification  in  heaven.] 
Let  us,  therefore,  as  many  as  are  perfect  [in  faith  and  love]  be  thus 
minded.  Let  us  press  after  our  perfection  of  suffering  here,  and  of 
glory  hereafter  ; — a  bodily  perfection  this,  which  the  apostle  describes 
thus  at  the  end  of  the  chapter  ; — We  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  change  our  vile  body  according  to  the  working 
whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself.  Phil.  iii.  21. 
Hence  it  appears,  if  we  are  not  strangely  mistaken,  that  it  is  not  less 
absurd  to  oppose  our  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  from  Phil.  iii. 
than  to  oppose  the  divinity  of  Christ  from  the  first  chapter  of  St. 
John's  Gospel. 

I  shall  conclude  these  remarks  upon  the  various  sorts  of  perfection, 
by  an  observation  which  may  help  Mr.  Hill  to  understand  how  St. 
Paul  could  be  perfect  in  love,  when  he  professed  that  he  was  not  per- 
fect either  in  glory,  knowledge,  or  sufferings. 

Had  not  our  Lord  he^n  perfect  in  love  from  a  child,  he  would  have 
broken  the  two  great  coramandmen4s  on  which  hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets.  But  in  him  was  no  sm:  therefore  he  was  perfect  in 
love,  though  his  love  admitted  of  an  increase,  as  well  as  his  wisdom 
and  knowledge  ;  just  as  a  perfect  bud  admits  of  a  growth  into  a 
perfect  blossom,  and  such  a  blossom  into  a  perfect  fruit.  Hence  it 
is,  that  as  our  Lord's  perfect  love  grew,  he  increo.sed  in  favour  with 
God  and  man ;  an  additional  degree  of  approbation  being  due  to  him 
from  all  rationals,  upon  every  display  of  his  growing  perfection. 
Luke  i.  52.  But,  though  our  Lord  was  always  perfect  in  love,  yet,  it 
is  certain  that  he  was  not  always  perfect  in  sufferings,  much  less  in 
glory,  for  he  was  not  perfected  in  sufferings  till^fter  he  had  expired 
between  the  two  thieves  ;  nor  was  he  perfected  in  glory  before  he 
took  his  place  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  This  is  evidently  the  apos- 
tle's doctrine,  where  he  says,  It  became  him  by  whom  are  all  thi77gs,  to 
make  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  perfect  through  sufferings.  Heb. 
ii.  10.  And  again,  chap.  v.  8.  Though  he  was  a  Son,  yet  learned  he 
obedience  by  the  things  which  he  siffered :  and  being  made  perfect  [in 
sufi'erings  and  in  glory]  he  became  the  Author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all 
them  that  obey  him.  Mr.  Hill  must  then  allow  that  St.  Paul's  imper- 
fection with  respect  to  sufferings  and  glory,  was  no  obstacle  to  the 
perfection  of  his  love ;  or  he  must  assert,  that  Christ  was  sinfully  im- 
perfect in  love,  so  long  as  he  continued  imperfect  in  sufferings  and 
glory, — a  supposition  this  which  is  too  horrible  to  be  admitted  by  a 
merely  nominal  Christian,  much  more  by  Mr.  HilL 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  207 


SECTION  VII. 


St.  Paul  was  not  carnal^  and  sold  under  sin. — The  tru£  meaning  o/"  Gal. 
V.  17.  and  of  Rom.  vii.  14.  kc.  is  opened  consistently  with  the  coji- 
text,  the  Design  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  to  the  Romans, 
and  the  privileges  of  Christians  and  the  Doctrine  of  Perfection. 

It  is  easier  to  raise  dust  than  to  answer  an  argument.  I  expect, 
therefore,  that  our  opponents,  instead  of  solidly  answering  the  con- 
tents of  the  preceding  section,  will  assert  that  St.  Paul  was  an  avowed 
enemy  to  deliverance  from  evil  tempers  before  death,  and  of  conse- 
quence a  strong  opposer  of  the  doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection.  And 
to  support  their  assertion,  they  will  probably  quote  the  following  text : 
The  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh,  so 
that  ye  cannot  do  the  things  that  ye  would »  Gal.  v.  17.  For  they  con- 
clude from  these  words,  that,  so  long  as  we  dwell  in  bodies  of  cor- 
ruptible flesh,  we  cannot  help  breaking  the  law  of  liberty,  (at  least 
from  time  to  time)  by  sinful,  internal  lusts.  As  this  objection  passes 
among  them  for  unanswerable,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  give  it  a  four- 
fold answer. 

1.  St.  Paul  wrote  these  words  to  the  carnal,  fallen  Galatians.  To 
them  he  said,  So  that  ye  cannot  do  the  things  that  ye  would  :  and  there 
was  a  good  reason  why  they  could  not  do  what  they  had  a  weak  desire 
to  do.  They  were  bewitched  by  the  flesh,  and  by  carnal  teachers, 
who  led  them  from  the  power  of  the  Spirit  to  the  weakness  of  the 
letter;  yea,  to  the  letter  of  Judaism  too.  But  did  he  not  speak  of 
himself  to  the  Philippians  in  a  very  dififerent  strain  ?  Did  be  not 
declare,  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who  strengtheneth  me?  And 
cannot  every  believer,  who  steadily  walks  in  the  Spirit,  say  the  same 
thing  ?  Who  does  not  see  the  flaw  of  this  argument  ?  The  disobedi- 
ent, fallen,  bewitched  believers  of  Galatia,  of  whom  St.  Paul  stood  in 
doubt,  could  not  but  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  when  they  were  led 
by  the  flesh  :  Neither  hot  nor  cold,  like  the  Laodiceans,  they  could 
neither  be  perfect  Christians  nor  perfect  worldlings,  because  they 
fully  sided  neither  with  the  Spirit  nor  with  the  flesh  :  or  to  use 
the  apostle's  words,  they  could  not  do  the  things  that  they  would,  through 
the  opposition  which  the  flesh  made  against  'he  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit 
against  the  flesh  ;  neither  of  these  principles  being  yet  fully  victo 
rious  in  their  halting,  distracted  hearts  : — Tnerefere  this  must  be  also 


20U  THE  LAST  CHECK 

the  miserable  case  of  all  ©bedient,  faithful,  established  believers 
through  all  ages  all  the  world  over !  What  has  this  Autinomian  con- 
clusion to  do  with  the  scriptural  premises  ?  When  1  assert  that  those 
who  have  put  out  their  knees  cannot  run  a  race  swiftly,  do  I  so  much 
as  intimate  that  no  man  can  be  a  swift  racer  ? 

2.  It  is  as  unscriptural  to  judge  of  the  power  and  liberty  of 
established  believers,  by  the  power  and  liberty  of  theGalatians  ;  as  it 
is  unreasonable  to  judge  of  the  liberty  of  a  free  nation,  by  the  servi- 
tude of  a  half-enslaved  people  ;  or  of  the  strength  of  a  vigorous 
child,  by  the  weakness  of  a  half-formed  embryo.  I  found  this 
remark,  (1.)  Upon  Gal.  v.  I.  where  the  apostle  indirectly  reproves 
his  Judaizing,  wrangling  converts,  for  being  fallen  from  the  liberty 
where-with  Christ  hath  made  us  free,  and  for  being  entangled  again  with 
the  yoke  of  bondage:  and  (2.)  Upon  Gal.  iv.  19.  My  little  children^  of 
whom  I  travail  in  birth  again,  until  Christ  be  formed  in  you.  The 
dawn  of  day  is  not  more  different  from  the  meridian  light,  than  the 
imperfect  state  described  in  this  verse  is  different  from  the  perfect 
state  described  in  the  following  lines,  which  are  descriptive  of  the 
adult  Christian  ;  /  am  crucified  with  Christ :  nevertheless  I  live,  yet 
not  i,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me,  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh, 
I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  Gal.  ii.  20. 

3.  The  sense  which  is  commonly  fixed  upon  the  text  produced  by 
our  opponents,  is  entirely  overturned  by  the  context:  read  the  pre- 
ceding verse,  and  you  will  find  a  glorious,  though  conditional  promise 
of  the  liberty  which  we  plead  for  :  This  I  say,  walk  in  the  Spirit,  and 
ye  shall  not  fulfil  the  [sinful]  lust  of  the  flesh;  that  is,  far  from  harbour- 
ing either  outward  or  inward  sin,  ye  shall,  with  myself,  and  as  many 
as  are  perfect,  steadily  keep  your  body  under,  and  be  in  every  thing 
spiritually  minded,  which  is  life  and  peace. 

4.  We  should  properly  distinguish  between  the  lawful  and  the 
sinful  lusts  or  desires  of  the  flesh.  To  desire  to  eat,  to  drink,  to 
sleep,  to  marry,  to  rest,  to  shun  pain  at  proper  times  and  in  a  proper 
manner,  is  no  sin :  such  lusts  or  desires  are  not  contrary  to  the  law 
of  liberty.  Our  Lord  himself  properly  indulged  most  of  these  harm- 
less propensities  of  the  flesh,  without  ceasing  to  be  the  immaculate 
Lamb  of  God.  Hence  it  is,  that  our  Church  requires  us  in  our  bap- 
tism to  renounce  only  "  the  sinful  lusts  of  the  fl«sh  ;"  giving  us  a 
tacit  leave  lawfully  to  indulge  its  lawful  appetites.  1  should  be  glad, 
for  example,  to  recruit  my  strength  by  one  hour's  sleep,  or  by  an 
ounce  of  food  ;  as  well  as  by  a  good  night's  rest,  or  a  good  meal : 
but  the  fiesh  harmlessly  lusteth  against  the  Spirit :  so  that  in  these, 
and  in  a  thousand  such  instances,  /  cannot  do  the  things  thai  I  would. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  209 

But  do  I  commit  sin  when  I  use  my  body  according  to  its  nature  ? 
Nay,  if  I  were  as  strongly  solicited  unlawfully  to  indulge  the  lawful 
appetites  of  my  flesh,  as  Christ  was  to  turn  stones  into  bread  when 
he  felt  keen  hunger  in  the  wilderness  ;  would  not  such  a  temptation 
increase  the  glory  of  my  victory,  rather  than  the  number  of  my  sins  ? 
Is  it  right  in  our  opponents  to  avail  themselves  of  the  vague,  unfixed 
meaning  of  the  words^es/t  and  lust,  to  make  the  simple  believe  that, 
so  long  as  we  have  human  Jlesh  about  us,  and  bodily  appetites  within 
us,  our  hearts  must  necessarily  remain  pregnant  with  sinful  lusts,  and 
we  shall  *'  have  innumerable  lusts  [as  says  an  imperfectioniat  whom  I 
shall  soon  mention]  sxn'arining  about  our  hearts  ?^^  Does  not  this 
doctrine  put  a  worm  at  the  root  of  Christian  liberty ,  while  it  nourishes 
Antinomian  freedom  ; — a  freedom  to  sin,  even  to  adultery  and  murder, 
without  ceasing  to  be  sinless  and  perfect  in  Christ  ? 

5.  Two  lines  after  St.  Paul's  supposed  plea  for  the  necessary  con- 
tinuance of  indwelling  sin  in  believers,  the  apostle  begins  a  long 
enumeration  of  the  -works  of  the  flesh,  of  the  -which,  says  he,  I  tell  you 
before,  as  I  have  also  told  you  in  time  past,  that  they  who  do  such  things, 
or  admit  in  their  hearts  such  lusts,  as  hatred,  variance,  strife,  or 
envyings,  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  :  whereas,  they  that  are 
Christ's  [they  that  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  in  St.  Paul's 
account  only  such  are  Christ's,  i.  e.  properly  belong  to  Christ's 
spiritual  dispensation,  Rom.  viii.  9,  14.]  have  crucified  the  flesh  with 
its  affections  and  lusts.  Gal.  v.  24.  Now  these  spiritual  believers, 
can  do  all  things  through  Christ :  and  accordingly  the  apostle  observes, 
that  far  from  bearing  the  fruit  of  the  flesh,  they  bear  the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness, 
faithfulness,  meekness,  temperance. — The  whole  cluster  of  ifjherent; 
graces  which  mjrties  up  Christian  jierfection  ;  and  then  he  observes, 
that  The  law  is  not  against  such  [because  they  fulfil  it  :]  For  all  the 
law  is  fulfilled  in  one  word,  even  in  this,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself     Gal.  v.  14—23. 

6.  The  sense  which  the  Imperfectionists  give  to  Gal.  v.  17.  is  not 
only  flatly  contrary  to  the  rest  of  the  chapter,  but  to  the  end  and 
design  of  all  the  epistle.  What  the  apostle  has  chiefly  in  view  through 
the  whole,  is  to  reprove  the  Galatians  for  their  carnality  in  following 
Judaiziog  teachers,  and  in  bearing  the  fruits  of  the  flesh,  envy, 
variance,  kc.  insomuch  that  they  were  ready  to  bite  and  devour  one 
another.  Now,  if  when  he  had  sharply  reproved  them,  as  persona 
zaho  ended  in  the  flesh,  after. h-'-vin'r  besun  in  the  Spirit,  he  had  written 
Gal.  V.  17.  in 'the  sense  of  our  opponents,  he  would  f'irlv  hr<ve 
excused  these  bewitched  men,  absolutely  defeated  his  reproof,  and 

Vol.  IV  27 


210  THE    LAST   CHECK 

absurdly  furnished  thera  with  an  excellent  plea  to  continue  in  their 
bad  course  of  life.  For  if  they  could  not  fMl  the  law  of  Christ,  but 
must  remain  carnal  and  sold  under  indwelling  sin,  had  the}/  not  a 
right  to  answer  the  apostle  thus  :  *'  If  neither  we,  whom  thou  callest 
be'JLHtched  Galatians,  nor  any  spiritual  believer,  can  possibly  do  the 
things  we  should  and  would  do,  because  the  flesh  sinfully  and 
unavoidably  lusteth  against  the  Spirit ;  why  dost  thou  blame  us  for 
our  carnality  ?  Why  dost  thou  take  us  to  task  rather  than  other 
believers  ?  Are  we  not  all  bound  by  adamantine  chains  of  carnal 
necessity,  to  break  the  law  of  Christ  so  long  as  we  are  in  the  body  ? 
Art  thou  not  the  very  man  who  givest  us  to  understand  that  we  cannot 
do  what  we  should  and  would  do,  because  the  fleshy  which  we  cannot 
possibly  part  with  before  death,  lusteth  against  the  Spirit  ?  And  is 
not  absolute  necessity  the  best  excuse  in  the  world  ? 

7.  Should  Mr  Hill  ask:  What  is  then  the  genuine  meaning  of 
Galatians  v.  17.?  We  reply,  that  when  we  consider  that  verse  in  the 
light  of  the  context,  we  do  not  doubt  but  the  sense  of  it  is  fairly 
expressed  in  the  following  lines.  "  The  flesh  and  the  Spirit  are  two 
contrary  principles.  They  thai  are  in^  or  walk  after ^  the  Jlesh,  cannot 
please  God.  And  ye  are  undoubtedly  in  the  flesh,  and  walk  after  the 
flesh,  while  ye  bite  and  devour  one  another.  This  I  say  then^  walk  in 
the  Spirit :  be  led  by  the  Spirit :  and  ye  shall  not  fulfil  the  lust  of  the 

flesh,  as  ye  now  do.  For  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit^  and  pre- 
vails in  all  carnal  people  ;  and  the  spirit  lusteth  against  the  fleshy  and 
prevails  in  all  spiritual  people  ;  and  these  two,  far  from  nestling 
together,  as  Antinomian  teachers  make  you  believe,  are  contrary  to 
each  other.  The^  are  irreconcileable  enemies  :  so  that,  as  obedient, 
spiritual  believers,  while  they  are  led  by  the  Spirit,  cannot  do  what 
they  would  do.  if  they  were  led  by  the  flesh  :  ye  bewitched,  carnal, 
disobedient  Galatians,  who  are  led  by  the  flesh,  cannot  do  what  ye 
would  do,  if  ye  were  led  by  the  Spirit,  and  what  ye  have  still  some 
desire  to  do,  so  far  as  ye  have  not  yet  absolutely  quenched  the  Spirit. 
Would  ye  then  return  to  your  liberty  ?  Return  to  your  duty  :  change 
your  guide  :  forsake  the  carnal  mind  :  let  Christ  be  formed  in  you  :  be 
led  by  the  Spirit ;  so  shall  ye  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ ;  and  it  shall  no 
more  condemn  you,  than  the  law  of  Moses  binds  you.  For  if  ye  be 
led  by  the  Spirit,  ye  are  not  under  the  curse  of  the  law  :  ye  are  equally 
free  from  the  bondage  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  from  the  condemnation 
of  the  law  of  Christ."  Gal.  v.  IG,  17,  18. 

8.  Should  Mr.  Hill  say,  **  That  by  the  flesh  he  understands  not 
only  the  body,  but  also  the  natural  desires,  appetites,  and  aversions, 
which  are  necessarily   excited  in  the  soul,  in  consequence   of  its 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM,  211 

intimate  union  with  the  bodjr ;  and  that  the  body  of  sin  must  needs 
live  and  die  with  the  body  which  our  spirit  inhabits  ;  because,  so 
long  as  we  continue  in  the  body,  we  are  unavoidably  tried  by  a 
variety  of  situations,  passions,  inchnations,  aversions,  and  infirmities, 
which  burden  us,  hinder  us  from  doing  and  sutTering  all  we  could 
wish  to  do  and  to  suflfer,  and  occasion  our  doing  or  feeling  what  we 
should  be  glad  in  some  respects  not  to  do  or  feel." 

I  answer  :  it  is  excessively  wrong  to  conclude,  that  all  these  bur- 
dens, infirmities,  appetites,  passions,  and  aversions,  are  those  sinful 
workings  of  our  corrupt  nature,  which  are  sometimes  called  the  flesh, 
— You  cannot  continue  a  whole  day  in  deep  prostration  of  body  and 
soul,  nor  perhaps  one  hour  upon  your  knees  :  your  stomach  involun- 
tarily rises  at  the  sight  of  some  food  which  some  persons  esteem 
delicious  :  your  strength  fails  in  outward  works  :  your  spirits  are 
exhausted  ;  you  faint  or  sleep,  when  others  are  active  and  toil :  you 
need  the  spiritual  and  bodily  cordials  which  others  can  administer : 
perhaps  also  you  are  afflicted  with  disagreeable  sensations  in  the 
outvvard  man,  through  the  natural,  necessary  play  of  the  various 
springs  which  belong  to  flesh  and  blood :  your  just  grief  vents  itself 
in  tears :  your  ieal  for  God  »  attended  with  a  proper  anger  at  sin, 
nay,  misapplying  what  the  apostle  says  of  the  carnal  man  under  the 
law,  you  may  declare  with  great  truth,  the  extensive  good  I  would, 
I  do  not ;  and  the  accidental  evil  1  would  not,  that  I  do :  I  would  con- 
vert every  sinner,  relieve  every  distressed  object,  and  daily  visit 
every  sick  bed  in  the  kingdom,  but  I  cannot  do  it.  I  would  never 
try  the  patience  of  my  friends,  never  stir  up  the  envy  of  my  rivals, 
never  excite  the  malice  of  my  enemies  ;  but  I  cannot  help  doing  this 
undesigned  evil,  as  often  as  I  strongly  exert  myself  in  the  discharge 
of  my  duty. 

If  you  say,  "  All  these  things,  or  most  of  them,  are  quite  inconsist- 
ent with  the  perfection  you  contend  for;"  1  ask;  upon  this  footing 
was  not  our  Lord  himself  imperfect  ?  Did  his  bodily  strength  never 
fail  in  agonizing  prayer,  or  intense  labour?  Did  his  animal  spirits 
always  move  with  the  same  sprightliness  ?  Do  we  not  read  ot  bis 
sleeping  in  the  ship,  when  his  disciples  wrestled  with  a  tempestuous 
sea  ?  Did  he  not  fulfil  the  precept.  Be  ye  angry  and  sin  not?  Had  he 
not  the  troublesome  sensation  of  grief  at  Lazarus's  grave, — of  hun- 
ger in  the  wilderness — of  weariness  at  Jacob's  well — and  of  thirst 
upon  the  cross  ?  If  he  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and 
tempted  in  all  things  as  we  are;  is  it  not  highly  probable,  that  he  was 
not  an  utter  stranger  to  the  other  natural  appetites,  and  uneasy  sen- 
sations which  are  incident  to  flesh  and  blood  ?  Is  it  a  sin  to  feci  them  ? 


2i'i  THE  LAST  CHECK 

Is  it  not  rather  a  virtue  wholly  to  deny  them,  or  not  to  gratify  them 
out  of  the  line  of  duty,  or  not  to  indulge  them  in  an  excessive  manner 
in  that  line  ?  Again ;  did  not  his  holy  flesh  testify  a  natural,  innocent 
abhorrence  to  suffering  ?  Did  not  his  sacred  body  faint  in  the  garden  ? 
Were  not  his  spirits  so  depressed,  that  he  stood  in  need  of  the 
strengthening  assistance  of  an  angel  ?  Did  he  do  all  the  good  he 
would  ?  To  suppose  that  he  wished  not  the  conversion  of  his  friends 
and  brethren,  is  to  suppose  him  totally  devoid  of  natural  affection  ; 
but  were  they  all  converted  ?  Did  you  never  read,  Neither  did  his 
brethren  believe  in  him :  and  his  friends  went  out  to  lay  hold  on  him  : 
for  they  said^  he  is  beside  himself?  To  conclude  :  did  he  not  accident- 
ally stir  up  the  evil  he  would  not,  when  he  gave  occasion  to  the  envy 
of  the  Pharisees — the  scorn  of  Herod— the /ears  of  Pilate — the  rage 
of  the  Jewish  mob?  And  when  he  prayed,  that  the  bitter  cup  might 
pass  from  him,  if  it  uere  possible,  did  he  not  manifest  a  resigned 
desire  to  escape  sin  and  shame  ?  If  every  such  desire  be  indwelling 
sin,  or  the  flesh  sinfully  lusting  against  ihe  spirit,  did  he  not  go  through 
the  sinful  conflict,  as  well  as  those  whom  we  call  perfect  men  in 
Christ?  And  consequently  did  he  not  fall  at  once  from  the  mediatorial, 
Adamic,  and  Christian  perfection  ;  indwelling  sin  being  equally  incon- 
sistent with  all  these  kinds  of  perfection  ? — What  true  believer  does 
not  shudder  at  the  bare  siipposition  ?  And  if  our  sinless  Lord  felt  the 
weakness  of  the  flesh  harmlessly  lusting  against  the  "willingness  of  the 
spirit,  according  to  his  own  doctrine.  The  spirit  indeed  is  willing,  but 
the  flesh  is  ■weak,  is  it  not  evident,  that  the  conflict  we  speak  of  (if  the 
spirit  maintains  its  superior,  victorious  lusting  against  the  flesh,  and 
by  that  mean  steadily  keeps  the  flesh  in  its  proper  place)  is  it  not 
evident,  1  say,  that  this  conflict  is  no  more  inconsistent  ivith  Christian 
perfection,  than  suff"ering,  agonizing,  fainting,  crying,  and  dying, 
which  were  the  lot  of  our  sinless,  perfect  Saviour  to  the  last  ? 

If  1  am  not  greatly  mistaken,  the  preceding  remarks  prove,  1. 
That  when  our  opponents  pretend  to  demonstrate  the  necessary 
indwelling  of  ?in  in  all  believers  from  Gal.  v.  \Q.  they  wretchedly  tear 
that  text  from  the  context,  to  make  it  speak  a  language  which  St.  Paul 
abhors. — 2.  That  this  text,  fairly  taken  together  with  the  context, 
and  the  design  of  the  whole  epistle,  is  a  proof  that  obedient,  spiritual 
believers,  can  do  what  the  bewitched  Galatians  could  not  do :  that  is, 
they  can  crucify  the  Jlesh  with  all  its  affections  and  lusts,  and  walk  as 
perfect  Christians  who  utterly  destroy  the  whole  body  of  sin,  £ind 
fulfil  the  law  of  Christ — And  3.  That  to  produce  Gal.  v.  against  the 
doctrine  of  Christian  perfection,  is  full  as  absurd  as  to  quote  the  ser- 
mon upon  the  mount  in  defence  of  Antinomian  delusions. — I  have 


TO  ANTINOMIANISU.  213 

dwelt  so  long  upon  this  head,  because  I  have  before  me  *  An  Essay 
on  Galatians  v.  17.  lately  published  by  an  ingenious  divine,  who  takes 
it  for  granted  that  the  apostle  contends,  in  this  verse,  for  the  neces- 
sary indwelling  of  sin.  ' 

Mr.  Hill  will  probably  say,  "  That  he  does  not  rest  the  doctrine 
of  Christian  imperfection  so  n^uch  upon  the  experience  of  the /a//en 
Galatians^  as  upon  that  of  St.  Paul  himself,  who,  in  Romans  vii. 
frankly  acknowledges,  that  he  was  still  a  wretched,  carnal  man,  sold 
under  sin,  and  serving  with  thejlesh  the  law  of  sin.  Whence  it  follows, 
that  it  is  high  presumption  in  modern  believers  to  aspire  at  more  per- 
fection, and  a  greater  freedom  from  sin  upon  earth,  than  had  been 
attained  by  St.  Paul,  who  was  not  a  whit  behind  the  very  chiefest 
apostles,  but  laboured  more  abundantly  than  theyall.^'' — To  this  common 
objection  I  answer : 

1.  The  perfection  we  preach  is  nothing  but  perfect  repentance, 
perfect  faith,  and  perfect  love,  productive  of  the  gracious  tempers 
which  St.  Pa'il  himself  describes,  1  Cor.  xiii.  We  see  those  blessed 
tempers  shining  through  his  epistles,  discourses,  and  conduct;  and  I 
have  proved  in  the  preceding  section  that  he  himself  professed  Chris- 
tian perfection.  This  objection  therefore  appears  to  us  an  ungene- 
rous attempt  to  make  St.  Paul  grossly  contradict  himself. — For  what 
can  be  more  ungenerous,  than  to  take  advantage  of  a  figurative  mode 
of  expression,  to  blast  a  good  man's  character,  and  to  traduce  him  as 
a  slave  of  his  fleshly  lii«ts,  a  drudge  to  carnality,  a  wretch  sold  under 
sin  ?  What  would  Mr  Hill  think  of  me,  if,  under  the  plausible  pre- 
tence of  magnifying  God's  grace  to  the  chief  of  sinners,  and  of 
prwing  that  there  is  no  deliverance  from  sin  in  this  life,  1  made  the 
following  speech  ? 

*'  The  more  we  grow  in  grace,  the  more  clearly  we  see  our  sins ; 
and  the  more  willingly  we  acknowledge  them  to  God  and  men.  This 
is  abundantly  verified  by  the  confessions  that  the  most  holy  men  have 
made  of  their  wickedness.  Paul  himself,  holy  Paul,  is  not  ashamed 
to  humble  himself  for  the  sins  whirh  he  comnutted  even  after  his 
conversion.  /  robbed  other  churches,  says  he,  taking  wages  of  them  to 
do  you  service,  2  Cor.  xi.  8.  Hence  it  appears,  that  the  apostle  had 
agreed  to  serve  some  churches  for  a  proper  salary  :  but,  being  carnal, 
and  sold  under  sin,  he  broke  his  word  ;  he  fleeced,  but  refused  to 
feed,  the  flocks ;  and  robbing  the  churches,  he  went  to  the  Corinth- 
ians, perhaps  to  see  what  he  could  get  of  them  also  in  the  end ;  for 

*  The  argumeots  by  which  the  doctrine  of  the  necessary  indvpelling  of  sin  iu  all  believ 
crs  till  death,  as  supported  in  that  Essay,  will  be  considered  in  Sect.  XIV. 


214  THE    LAST   CHECK 

the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked,  Jeremiah 
xvii.  9.  Nay,  partial  as  he  was  to  those  Corinthians,  tor  whom  he 
turned  church- robber,  he  showed  that  his  love  to  them  was  not  sin- 
less and  free  from  rage  ?  for  once  he  threatened  to  come  to  them 
with  a  rod;  and  he  gave  one  of  them  to  Satan  for  the  destruction  of 
the  flesh.  With  ureat  propriety,  therefore,  did  holy  Paul  say  to  the 
last,  I  am  the  chief  of  sinners.  And  now  when  the  chief  of  the  apos- 
tles abases  himsolf  thus  before  God,  and  publicly  testifies,  both  by 
his  words  and  works,  that  there  is  no  deliverance  from  sin,  no  perfec- 
tion in  this  life :  who  can  help  being  frightened  at  the  Pharisaic  pride 
of  the  men,  who  dare  inculcate  the  doctrine  of  sinless  perfection  ?'* 

I  question  if  Mr.  Hill  himself,  upon  reading  this  ungenerous  and 
absurd,  though  in  one  sense  scriptural  plea,  for  St.  Paul's  imperfec- 
tion, would  not  be  as  much  out  of  conceit  with  my  fictitious  explana- 
tion of  2  Cor  xi  as  I  am  with  his  Calvinistic  exposition  of  Rom.  vii. 
Nor  do  I  think  it  more  criminal  to  represent  the  apostle  as  a  church- 
robber,  than  to  traduce  him  as  a  wretched,  carnal  man,  sold  under 
sin: — another  Ahab,  that  is,  a  man  who  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord,  above  all  that  were  before  him. 

2.  St.  Paul  no  more  professes  himself  actually  a  carnal  man  in 
Rom.  vii.  7.  than  he  professes  himself  actually  a  liar  in  Rom.  iii.  7. 
where  he  says,  But  if  the  truth  of  God  has  more  abounded  through 
my  lie,  why  am  1  judged  as  a  sinner  ? — He  no  more  professes  himself 
a  man  actually  sold  under  sin,  than  St.  James  and  his  fellow-believers 
profess  themselves  a  generation  of  vipers,  and  actual  cursers  of  men, 
when  the  one  wrote  and  the  others  read,  Tlie  tongue  can  no  man 
tame  : — it  is  full  of  deadly  poison  : — therewith  curse  we  men.  When 
St.  Paul  reproves  the  partiality  of  some  of  the  Corinthians  to  this  or 
that  preacher,  he  introduces  ApoUos  and  himself :  though  it  seems 
that  his  reproof  was  chiefly  intended  for  other  preachers,  who 
fomented  a  party  spirit  in  the  corrupted  church  of  Corinth.  And 
then  he  says,  These  things,  brethren,  I  have  in  a  figure  transferred  to 
myself  and  Apollos,  for  your  sakes :  that  ye  might  learn  in  us  not  to 
think  of  men  above  that  which  is  written.  1  Cor.  iv.  6. — By  the  same 
figure  he  says  of  hinnself,  vvJ  U  he  might  have  said  of  any  other  man, 
or  of  all  mankind  :  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men^  and  of 
angels,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass.  Thrice 
in  three  verses  he  speaks  of  his  not  having  charity :  and  suppose  he 
had  done  it  three  hundred  times,  this  would  no  more  have  proved 
that  he  was  really  uncharitable,  than  his  saying,  Rom.  vii.  /  am  sold 
under  sin,  proves  that  he  served  the  law  of  sin  with  his  body,  L'§  a  slave 
is  forced  to  serve  the  master  who  bought  him. 


TO     ANTINOMIANISM.  2l5 

3.  It  frequently  happens  ;ilso,  that  by  a  fig;nre  of  rhetoric  which  is 
called  Hypotyposis,  writers  relate  things  past  or  things  to  come  in  the 
present  tense  ;  that  their  narration  may  be  more  lively,  and  may 
make  a  stmnirer  impression.  Thus  Gen.  vi  17.  we  read,  Behold,  /, 
even  I  do  bring  \i.  e.  I  ivjll  bring  120  years  hence]  a  flood  upon  the 
earth  to  destroy  all  flesh. — Thus  also  2  Sam.  xxii.  1.  35,  48.  Hlien  the 
Lord  had  delivered  David  out  of  the  hands  of  all  his  enemies.,  and  given 
him  peace  in  all  his  borders,  he  spake  the  "oi-ords  of  this  song. — He 
teacheth  [i.  e  he  taught]  my  hands  to  ra-ar,  so  that  a  bbw  of  steel  is 
[i.  e.  was]  broken  by  mine  arms: — It  is  God  that  avengeth  \\.  e.  that 
hath  avenged]  me — and  that  bringeth  \\.  e  has  brought]  me  forth  from 
mine  enemies.  A  thousand  snch  expressions,  or  this  figure  continued 
through  a  thousand  verses,  would  never  prove,  before  unprejudiced 
persons,  that  King  Saul  was  alive,  and  that  David  was  not  yet  deli- 
vered for  good  out  of  his  bloody  hands.  Now  if  St.  Paul,  by  a  similar 
figure,  which  he  carries  throughout  part  of  a  chapter,  relates  his 
past  experience  in  the  present  tense: — If  the  Christian  apostle,  to 
humble  himself,  and  to  make  his  description  more  lively,  and  the 
opposition  between  the  bondage  of  sin  and  Christian  liberty  more 
striking: — If  the  apostle,  I  say,  with  such  a  design  as  this,  appears 
upon  the  stage  of  instruction  in  his  old  Jewish  dress,  a  dress  this,  in 
which  he  could  serve  God  day  and  night,  and  yet,  like  another  Ahab, 
breathe  threatenings  and  slaughter  against  God's  children  :  and  if  in 
this  dress  he  says,  I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin,  ^'c.  is  it  not  ridiculous 
to  measure  his  growth  as  an  apostle  of  Christ  by  the  standard  of  his 
stature  when  he  was  a  Jewish  bigot,  a  fiery  zealot,  full  of  good  mean- 
ings and  bad  performances  ? 

4.  To  take  a  scripture  out  of  the  context,  is  often  like  taking  the 
stone  that  bmds  an  arch  out  of  its  place  :  you  know  not  what  to  make 
of  it.  Nay,  you  may  put  it  to  an  use  quite  contrary  to  that  for  which 
it  was  intended.  This  our  opponents  do,  when  they  so  take  Rom.  vii. 
out  of  its  connexion  with  Rom.  vi.  and  Rom.  viii.  as  to  make  it  mean 
the  very  reverse  of  what  the  apostle  designed.  St.  Paul,  in  Romans 
fifth  and  sixth,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  chapter,  describes 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God  under  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation. And  as  a  skilful  painter  puts  shades  in  his  picture  to  heighten 
the  effect  of  the  lights,  so  the  judicious  apostle  introduces  in  the 
latter  part  of  Rom.  vii.  a  lively  description  of  the  domineering  power 
of  sin,  and  of  the  intolerable  burden  of  guilt : — a  burden  this,  which 
he  had  so  severely  felt,  when  the  convincing  Spirit  charged  sin  home 
upon  his  conscience  after  he  had  broken  his  good  resolutions  ;  but 
especially  during  the  three  days  of  his  blindness  and  fasting  at  Damas- 


216  THE    LAST    CHECK 

cus.  Then  he  groaned,  O  zvretched  man  that  I  am,  ^c.  hanging  night 
and  d:ty  bpi*\pen  despJiir  and  hope,  between  unbelief  and  faith, 
betw  ?on  bondage  and  freedoni,  till  God  brought  him  into  Christian 
liberty  by  thf;  ministry  of  Ananias; — of  this  liberty  the  apostle  gives 
us  a  farther  and  fuller  account  in  Rom.  viii.  ^  l^^herefore  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  man  who  groans  under  the  galling  yoke  of  sin,  is  brought 
in  merely  by  contrast,  to  set  oif  the  amazing  difference  there  is 
betvveen  (he  bondage  of  sin,  and  the  liberty  of  Gospel  holiness  ;  just 
as  tiie  genends  who  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  used  to  make  a  show 
of  the  prince  whom  they  had  conquered.  On  such  occasions  the 
conqueror  rode  in  a  triumphal  chariot,  crowned  with  laurel  ;  while 
the  captive  king  followed  him  on  foot,  loaded  with  chains,  and 
making,  next  to  the  conqueror,  the  most  striking  part  of  the  show. 
Now,  ii  in  a  Roman  triumph,  some  of  the  spectators  had  taken  ihr 
chained  king  on  foot  for  the  victorious  general  in  the  chariot,  because 
the  one  immediately  followed  the  other,  they  would  have  been  guilty 
of  a  mistake  not  unlike  that  of  our  opponents,  who  take  the  carnal 
Jetv,  sold  under  sin,  and  groaning  as  he  goes  along,  for  the  Christian 
believer,  who  walks  in  the  Spirit,  exults  in  the  liberty  of  God's  chil- 
dren, and  always  triumphs  in  Christ. 

6.  To  see  the  propriety  of  the  preceding  observation,  we  need 
only  take  notice  of  the  contrariety  there  is  between  the  bondage  of 
the  carnal  penitent,  described  Rom.  vii.  14,  &c.  and  the  liberty  of  the 
spiritual  man,  described  in  the  beginning  of  that  very  chapter. — The 
one  says.  Who  shall  deliver  me  ? — Sin  revives : — It  works  in  him  all 
manner  of  concupiscence — yea,  it  works  death  in  him  : — he  is  carnal — 
sold  under  sin — forced  by  his  bad  habits  to  v/hat  he  is  ashamed  of — 
and  kept  from  doing  what  he  sees  his  duty. — In  him,  that  is,  in  his 
flesh,  dxtoells  no  good  thing — Sin  dwelleth  in  him. — How  to  perform  that 
which  is  good  he  finds  not.  Though  he  has  a  desire  to  be  better, 
yet  still  he  does  not  do  good—he  does  evil — evil  is  present  with  him. 
Hjs  inward  man,  his  reason  and  conscience  approve,  yea,  delight  in 
Godh  law,  i.  e,  in  that  which  is  right ;  but  still  he  does  it  not ;  his 
good  resolutions  are  no  sooner  made  than  they  are  broken  ;  for 
another  law  in  his  members  wars  against  the  law  of  his  mind,  that  is, 
his  carnal  appetites  oppose  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  and  bring 
him  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin ;  so  that,  like  a  poor  chained  slave, 
he  ha?  ju?t  liberty  enough  to  rattle  his  chains,  and  to  say,  O  wretched 
man  that  J  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death,  from 
this  complete  assertiblage  of  corruption,  misery,  and  death  !  Is  it  not 
ridiculous  to  conclude,  that,  because  this  groaning  sltve  has  now  and 
then  a  hope  of  deliverance,  and  at  times  thanks  God  through  Jesus 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  217 

Christ  for  that  hope  ;  he  is  actually  a  partaker  of  the  liberty  which 
is  thus  described  in  the  beginning  of  the  chapter  ?  Ye  are  become 
dead  to  the  law  [the  Mosaic  dispensation]  that  ye  should  be  married  to 
him,  who  is  raised  from  the  dead,  that  [instead  of  omitting  to  do  good, 
and  doing  evil,]  we  should  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God.  For  when  we 
were  in  the  flesh,  [in  the  state  of  the  carnal  man  sold  under  sin, — 
a  sure  proof  this  that  the  apostle  was  no  more  in  that  state]  the 
motions  of  sin  which  were  by  the  lazv  [abstracted  from  the  Gospel  pro- 
mise] did  work  in  our  members  to  bring  forth  fruit  unto  death.  But 
now  we  are  delivered  from  the  [curse  ef  the  moral,  as  well  as  from 
the  bondage  of  the  Mosaic]  law,  that  being  dead  wherein  we  were  held: 
that  we  should  serve  God  in  newness  of  spi7'it,  and  not  in  the  oldness  of  the 
letter,  Rom.  vii  4,  5,  6.  Immediately  after  this  glorious  profession 
of  liberty,  the  apostle,  in  his  own  person,  by  way  of  contrast,  describes 
to  the  end  of  the  chapter,  the  poor,  lame,  sinful  obedience  of  those, 
who  serve  God  in  the  oldiuss  of  the  letter :  so  that  nothing  can  be  more 
unreasonable  than  to  take  this  description  for  a  description  of  the 
obedience  of  those  who  serve  God  in  the  newness  of  the  spirit.  VVe 
have  therefore  in  Rom.  vii.  4,  5,  G.  a  strong  rampart  against  the  mis- 
take which  our  opponents  build  on  the  re«t  of  the  chapter. 

6.  This  mistake  will  appear  still  more  astonishing,  if  we  read  Rom. 
vi.  where  the  apostle  particularly  describes  the  liberty  of  those  who 
serve  God  in  newness  of  the  spirit,  according  to  the  glorious  privileges  of 
the  new  covenant.  Is  darkness  more  contrary  to  light  than  the  pre- 
ceding description  of  the  carnal  Jew  is  to  the  following  description  of 
the  -spiritual  Christian.  How  shall  we  that  are  dead  to  sin  live  any 
longer  therein !  Our  old  man  is  crucified  with  Christ,  that  the  body  of  sin 
might  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  r«je  might  not  serve  sin.  [Note  :  the 
carnal  Jew,  though  against  his  conscience,  still  "  serves  the  law  of 
sin,^''  Rom.  vii.  25.]  JSfow  he  that  is  dead  is  freed  from  sin. — Reckon 
ye  yourselves  also  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin. — Yield  yourselves  unto  God, 
as  those  that  are  alive  from  the  dead.  [Note:  the  carnal  Jew  says, 
Sin  revived,  and  I  died,  Rom.  vii.  9.  but  the  spiritual  Christian  is 
alive  from  the  dead.] — Sin  shall  not  have  dominion  over  you  [now  you 
are  spiritual  :  you  need  not  say,  '*  I  do  the  evil  that  I  hate,  and  the 
evil  I  would  not,  that  I  do  :^^]for  you  are  not  under  the  law  [under  the 
weak  dispensation  of  Moses  ;]  but  under  grace  [under  the  powerful, 
gracious  dispensation  of  Christ.] — God  be  thanked  that  [whereas]  ye 
were  the  servants  of  sin,  when  you  carnally  served  God  in  the  oldness 
of  the  letter,  ye  have  obeyed  from  the  heart  the  form  of  doctrine  which 
was  delivered  you  :  that  is,  ye  have  heartily  embraced  the  doctrine  of 
r^hrist,  who  gives  ref«t  to  all  that  come  to  him  travailing  and  heavy 

Vor,.  IV,  28 


ii8  THE  LAST  CHECK 

laden.  Being  then  made  free  from  sin,  ye  became  the  servants  of  rightt^ 
ousness — For  when  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin,  ye  were  free  from  righte-* 
ousness — But  now  being — carnal,  sold  under  sin,  ye  serve  the  law  of 
sin  ? — No  :  just  the  reverse  ;  But  now  being  made  free  from  sin,  and 
hecoine  the  servants  of  God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holiness,  and  the 
end  everlasting  life,  Rom  vi.  2 — 22.  Is  it  possible  to  reconcile  this 
description  of  Christian  liberty  with  the  preceding  description  of 
Jewish  bondage  ?  Can  a  man  at  the  same  time  exult  in  the  one  and 
groan  under  the  other?  When  our  opponents  assert  it,  do  they  not 
confound  the  Mosaic  and  the  Christian  dispensations : — the  workings 
of  the  spirit  of  bondage,  and  the  workings  of  the  spirit  of  adoption  ? 
And  yet,  astonishing!  they  charge  us  with  confounding  law  and 
Gospel ! 

7.  We  shall  see  their  mistake  in  a  still  more  glaring  light,  if  we 
pass  to  Rom.  viii.  and  consider  the  description  which  St.  Paul  con- 
tinues to  give  us  of  the  glorious  liberty  of  those  who  have  done 
with  the  oldness  of  the  [Jewish]  letter,  and  serve  God  in  nezvness  of  the 
spirit.  The  poor  Jew,  carnally  sticking  in  the  letter,  is  condemned 
for  all  he  does,  if  his  conscience  be  awake.  But  there  is  now  no  con- 
demnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  are  come  up  to  the 
privileges  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh, 
but  after  the  spirit.  For  the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus 
[the  power  of  the  quickening  spirit  given  me,  and  my  fellow-believ- 
ers, under  the  spiritual  and  perfect  dispensation  of  Christ  Jesus] 
hath  made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  For  what  the  law 
[the  letter  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation]  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was 
weak  ihrough  ihe  flesh,  God,  sending  his  own  Son,  condetnned  sin  in  the 
flesh:  thai  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  the  spiritual  obedience,  which 
the  moral  law  of  Moses,  adopted  by  Christ,  reqinres,  might  be  fd- 
filled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit.  For  [so 
far  from  professing  that  1  am  "  carnal  and  sold  under  sin,  I  declare 
that]  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death:  [Well  may  then  the  carnal  Jew 
groan,  '*  Who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  !"]  But  to 
he  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace  :  so  then,  they  that  are  in  the  fleshy 
i.  e.  carnal,  sold  under  sin,  cannot  please  God.  But  ye  are  not  in  the 
flesh,  but  in  the  spirit,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you. 
J\l'ow  if  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his:  he  is, 
at  best,  a  disciple  of  Moses,  a  poor,  carnal  Jew,  and  remains  still  a 
stranger  to  the  glorious  privileges  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  But 
if  Christ  be  in  you,  the  body  is  dead,  weak  and  full  of  the  seeds  of 
death,  because  of  [original]  sin;  but  the  spirit  is  life,  strong  and  full  of 
immortality,  because  of  [implanted  and  living]  righteousness. — For  ye 


no  ANTINOMIANISM.  219 

have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear,  [like  the  poor, 
carnal  roan,  who  through  fear  and  anguish  groans  out,  "  O  wretched 
man  that  I  am  :"]  But  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption,  Tnhereby 
wc,  who  walk  in  newness  of  the  spirit,  and  please  God — we,  who 
have  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  cry  Abba,  Father:  the  Spirit  itself  hearing 
witness  7s.'ith  our  spirits  that  we  are  the  children  of  God ;  and  if  children, 
then  heirs;  heirs  of  God,  whom  we  please,  and  joint-heirs  with  Christ, 
through  whom  we  please  God,  Rom.  viii.  1  — 17. 

This  glorious  liberty,  which  God's  children  enjoy  in  their  souls, 
xmder  the  perfection  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  will  one  day 
extend  to  their  bodies,  which  are  dead  [i.  e.  infirm  and  condemned  to 
die]  because  of  [original]  sin.  And  with  rej^pect  to  the  body  only  it 
is,  that  the  apostle  says,  Rom.  viii.  23.  We  ourselves  also,  zvho  have 
the  first  fruits  of  the  spirit,  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adop- 
tion of  our  outward  man,  that  is,  the  redemption  of  our  body :  for,  with 
respect  to  the  body,  whose  imperfection  is  so  great  a  clog  to  the  soul, 
we  are  saved  by  hope.  In  the  mean  time,  we  know  that  all  things  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God. — W'Tio  shall  separate  us,  that 
love  God,  and  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit, /rom  the 
love  of  Christ!*  Shall  tribidation  or  distress,  Lc.  do  it?  Nay,  in  all 
things,  much  more  in  respect  of  sin  and  carnal  mindedness,  we  are 
inore  than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us,  Rom.  viii.  23 — 37. 

And,  that  this  abundant  victory  extends  to  the  destruction  of  the 
carnal  mind,  we  prove  by  these  words  of  the  context.  To  be  carnally 
minded  is  death  ;  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace ;  because 
the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God,  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of 
God,  neither  indeed  can  he.  So  then  they  that  are  in  the  flesh,  they  that 
are  carnally  minded,  cannot  please  God.  But  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh, 
ye  are  not  carnally  minded,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you. 
For  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  and  dwells  as  a  spirit  of  adoption, 
there  is  constant  liberty :  now  if  any  man  have  not  that  Spirit,  or  if  he 
hath  it  only  as  a  spirit  of  bondage,  to  make  him  groan,  O  wretched 
man !  he  may  indeed  be  a  servant  of  God  in  the  land  of  his  spiritual 
captivity,  but  he  is  none  of  ClirisVs  freemen  :  he  may  serve  God  in  the 
oldness  of  the  letter,  as  a  .lew;  but  he  does  not  serve  him  in  nenness  of 
the  spirit,  as  a  Christian.  For  I  repeat  it,  where  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
is,  and  dwells  according  to  the  fulness  of  the  Christian  dispensation, 
there  is  a  liberty,  a  glorious  liberty,  which  is  the  very  reverse  of  the 
bondage  that  Mr.  Hill  pleads  for  during  the  term  of  life.  See  Rom 
viii.  14—21. 

Whether  therefore  we  consider  Rom.  vii.  Rom.  vi.  or  Rom.  viii. 
it  appears  indubitable,  that  the  sense  which  onr  opponents  fix  upon 


.220  THE   LAST    CHECK 

Rom.  vii.  i4,  kc.  is  entirely  contrary  to  the  apostle's  meaning,  to  the 
context,  and  to  the  design  of  the  whole  epistle,  which  is  to  extol  the 
privileges  of  those  who  are  Chrisfs,  above  the  privileges  of  those  who 
are  JVoa/i's  or  Moseses;  or,  if  you  please,  to  extol  the  privileges  of 
spiritual  Christians,  who  serve  God  in  newness  of  the  spirit,  above  the 
privileges  of  carnal  Heathens  and  Jews,  who  serve  him  only  in  the 
oldness  of  the  letter. 


SECTION  VIII. 

,i9»  Answer  to  the  Arguments,  by  which  St.  PauVs  supposed  Carnality  is 
generally  defended. 

If  the  sense  which  our  opponents  give  to  Rom.  vii.  14.  be  true, 
the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  is  a  dream,  and  our  utmost 
attainment  on  earth  is,  St.  Paul's  apostolic  carnality,  and  involuntary 
servitude  to  the  law  of  sin ;  with  a  hopeful  prospect  of  deliverance  in 
a  death  purgatory.  It  is  therefore  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
establish  our  exposition  of  that  verse,  by  answering  the  arguments 
which  are  supposed  to  favour  the  Antinomian  meaning  rashly  fixed 
upon  that  portion  of  Scripture. 

Argument  1.  '*  If  St.  Paul  was  not  carnal  and  sold  under  sin  when 
he  wrote  to  the  Romans,  why  does  he  say,  /  am  carnal?  Could  he 
not  have  said,  I  was  carnal  once,  hut  now  the  law  of  Ihe  Spirit  of  life 
in  Christ  Jesus  has  set  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death  ?  Can  you 
give  a  good  reason  why,  in  Rom.  vii.  14.  the  phrase,  /  am  carnal, 
must  mean,  I  was  carnal  ?  is  it  right  thus  to  substitute  the  past  time 
for  the  present  ?^'' 

Answer.  We  have  already  shown,  that  this  figurative  way  of 
speaking  is  not  uncommon  in  the  Scriptures.  We  grant,  however, 
that  we  ought  not  to  depart  from  the  literal  sense  of  any  phrase 
without  good  reasons.  Several  such,  1  trust,  have  already  been  pro- 
duced, to  show  the  necessity  of  taking  St.  Paul's  words,  1  am  carnal^ 
in  the  sense  stated  in  the  preceding  section.  I  shall  offer  one  more 
remark  upon  this  head,  which,  if  1  mistake  not,  might  alone  convince 
the  unprejudiced. 

The  states  of  all  souls  may  in  general  be  reduced  to  three  : — 1. 
That  of  unawakened  sinners,  who  quietly  sleep  in  the  chains  of  their 
sins,  and  dream  of  self-righteousness  and  heaven.  2.  That  of 
awakened,  uneasy,  reluctant  sinners,  who  try  in  vain  to  break  the 
galling  chains  of  their   sins  : — And  3.  That  of  delivered  sinners,  oi 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  221 

victorious  believers,  who  enjoy  the  liberty  of  God's  children.  This 
last  state  is  described  in  Horn.  vii.  4,  6.  The  rest  of  tliat  chapter  is 
judiciously  brought  in,  to  show  how  the  unnwakened  sinner  is  roused 
out  of  his  carnal  state,  and  how  the  awakened  sinner  is  driven  to 
Christ  for  liberty  by  the  lashing  and  bindins;  commandment.  The 
apostle  shows  this  by  observins:  [ver.  7,  &lc.]  how  the  law  makes  a 
sinner  [nr,  if  you  please,  made  him]  pass  from  the  unan^akened  to  the 
awakened  state.  /  had  not  known  sin,  says  he,  but  by  the  law,  4'C. 
When  he  had  described  his  unawakened  state  without  the  law,  and 
be^an  to  describe  his  awakened  state  und»T  the  law,  nothing  was 
more  natural  than  to  change  the  time  or  tense.  But,  having  already 
used  the  past  tense  in  the  description  of  the  tirst,  or  the  unawakened 
state  ;  and  having  said,  Without  the  law  sin  was  dead — /  was  alive  with- 
out the  law  once — Sin  revived  and  I  died,  J^c.  he  could  no  more  use 
that  tense,  when  he  began  to  describe  the  second,  or  the  awakened 
state ;  I  mean  the  state  in  which  he  found  himself  when  the  com- 
mandment had  roused  his  sleepy  conscience,  and  slain  his  Pharisaic 
hopes.  He  was  therefore  obliged  to  use  another  tense,  and  none, 
in  tfiat  case,  was  fitter  than  the  present :  just  as  if  he  had  said,  "  VVhen 
the  commandment  slew  the  conceited  Pharisee  iu  me  ;  when  /  died 
to  my  self-righteous  hopes  ;  1  did  not  die  without  a  groan  :  nor  did  I 
pass  into  the  life  of  God  without  severe  pangs  :  no  ;  I  struggled  with 
earnestness,  I  complained  with  bitterness,  and  the  language  of  my 
oppressed  heart  was — I  a7n  carnal,  sold  under  sin,  &:c.  to  the  end  of 
the  chapter.*  It  is  therefore  with  the  utmost  rhetorical  propriety, 
that  the  apostle  says,  I  am,  and  not  I  was,  carnal,  4'C.  But  rhetorical 
propriety  is  not  theological  exactness.  David  may  say  as  a  poet,  God 
was  wroth.  There  went  up  a  smoke  out  of  his  nostrils,  and  fire  out  of  his 
mouth  devoured :  coals  were  kindled  by  it :  but  it  would  be  ridiculous 
to  take  these  expressions  in  a  literal  sense.  Nor  is  it  much  less 
absurd  to  assert,  that  St.  Paul's  words,  /  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin, 
are  to  be  understood  of  Christian  and  apostolic  liberty. 

*  Some  time  after  I  had  written  this,  looking  into  Dr.  Doddridge^s  Lectures  on  Divinity, 
page  451,  1  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find,  that  what  that  judicious  and  moderate  Ca!- 
vinist  presents  as  the  most  plausible  sense  of  Rom.  vii.-  14.  is  exactly  the  senbe  which  1 
defend  in  these  pages.  Take  his  own  words.  "  St.  Paul  at  first  rcpre!<ents  a  man  a? 
ignorant  of  the  law,  and  then  insensible  of  sin;  but  afterward  being  acquainted  with  it, 
and  then  thrown  into  a  kind  of  despair,  by  the  sentence  of  death  which  it  denounces,  oi; 
account  of  sins  he  is  now  conscious  of  having  conimitied  ;  he  then  farther  shows,  that  ever. 
where  there  is  so  good  a  disposition  as  to  delight  in  the  law,  yet  the  motives  are  too  weak 
to  maintain  that  unifonn  tenor  of  obedience,  which  a  good  man  greatly  desires,  and  whiclv 
■'he  ^osprl  bv  i's  sunerii^r  n^ofi\  p«  anrl  jfrHco  dnfis  in  fact  produce  ." 


222  THE  LAST  Check 

Arg.  II.  "  St.  Paul  says  to  the  Corinthians,  I  write  not  to  you  as  to 
spiritual  men^  but  as  to  carnal^  even  to  babes  in  Christ.  Now  if  the 
Corinthians  couhl  be  at  once  holy,  and  yet  carnal^  why  could  not  Sto 
Paul  be  at  the  same  time  an  eminent  apostolic  saint,  and  a  carnal^ 
wretched  man,  sold  vnder  sin?"' 

A\s.  1.  The  Corinthians  were  by  no  means  established  believers 
in  general,  for  the  apostle  concludes  his  last  epistle  to  them,  by  bidding 
them  examine  themselves  whether  they  were  in  the  faith  — 2.  If  St.  Paul 
proved  carnal  still,  and  was  to  continue  so  till  death,  with  all  the 
body  of  Christian  believers  ;  why  did  he  upbraid  the  Corinthians  with 
therr  unavoidable  carnality  ?  Why  did  he  wonder  at  it,  and  say,  Ye 
are  yet  carnal,  for  whereas  there  is  among  you  envyings  and  strife,  <^c, 
are  ye  not  carnal  ?  Might  not  these  carnal  Corinthians  have  justly 
replied,  Carnal  physician,  heal  thyself? — 3.  lx\  the  language  of  the 
apostle,  to  be  carnal — to  be  carnally  minded — to  walk  after  the  flesh- 
not  to  7eatk  after  the  Spirit— and  to  be  in  the  flesh,  are  phrases  of  the 
same  import.  This  is  evident  from  Rom.  vii.  14.  viii.  I — 9  :  and 
he  says  directly  or  indirectly,  that  to  those  who  are  in  that  state, 
there  is  condemnation ;  that  they  cannot  please  God ;  and  that  they  are 
in  a  state  of  death ;  because,  to  be  carnal,  or  carnally  minded ,  is 
death,  Rom.  viii.  1,  6,  8.  Now,  if  he  was  carnal  himself,  does  it 
not  follow  that  he  could  not  please  God,  and  that  he  was  in  a  state  of 
condemnation  and  death  ?  But  how  does  this  agree  with  the  profes- 
sion which  he  immediately  makes  of  being  led  by  the  Spirit ,  of  walking 
in  the  Spirit,  and  of  being  made  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death,  by 
the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  ? — 4.  We  do  not  deny  that  the  remains 
of  the  carnal  mtnd  still  cleave  to  imperfect  Christians  ;  and  that, 
when  the  expression  carnal  is  softened  and  qualified,  it  may,  in  a 
low  sense,  be  applied  to  such  professors  as  those  Corinthians  were, 
to  whom  St.  Paul  said,  /  could  not  speak  to  you  as  to  spiritual.  But, 
could  not  the  apostle  be  yet  spoken  to  as  a  spiritual  man  ?  And  does 
he  not  allow,  that  even  m  the  corrupted  churches  of  Corinth  and 
Galatia,  there  were  some  truly  spiritual  men — some  adult,  perfect 
Christians?  See  1  Cor.  xiv.  37.  and  Gal.  vi.  1 — 5.  When  the 
apostle  calls  the  divided  Corinthians  carnal,  he  immedi  ;tely  softens  the 
expression,  by  adding,  babes  in  Christ :  if  therefore  the  word  carnal 
is  applied  to  St.  Paul  in  this  sense,  it  must  follow  that  the  apostle  was 
but  a  babe  in  Christ :  and  if  he  was  but  a  babe,  is  it  not  as  absurd  to 
judge  of  the  growth  of  adult  Christians  by  his  growth,  as  to  measure 
the  stature  of  a  man  by  that  of  an  infant  ? — 6.  And  lastly  :  the  man 
described   in  Rom.   vii.    14.  is  not  only   called  carnal  without  any 


to  ANTINOMIANISM.  2^3 

softening,  qualif}'ing  phrase  :  but  the  word  carnal  is  immediately 
heightened  by  an  uncommon  expression — sold  wider  sin;  which  is 
descriptive  of  the  strongest  bondage  of  corruption.  Thus  Reason, 
Scripture,  and  Criticism  agree  to  set  this  argument  aside. 

Arg.  in.  '*The  carnal  man,  whose  cause  ive  plead,  says,  Rom. 
yii.  20.  If  I  do  that  Izvould  not,  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  which 
dwelleth  in  me,  that  is,  in  my  unrenewed  part :  and  therefore  he  might 
be  an  eminent  apostolic  saint  in  his  renewed  part ;  and  a  carnal, 
wretched  man,  sold  under  sin,  in  his  unrenewed  part." 

Ai^.  1.  The  apostle  speaking  there  as  a  carnal,  and  yet  awakened 
man,  who  has  light  enough  to  see  his  sinful  habits,  but  not  faith  and 
resolution  enough  to  overcome  them  ;  his  meaning  is  evidently  this  : 
if  [,  as  a  carnal  man,  do  what  I,  as  an  awakened  man,  would  not ;  it  is 
no  more  J  that  do  it,  that  is,  I  do  not  do  it  according  to  my  awakened 
conscience,  for  my  conscience  rises  against  my  conduct  ;  but  it  is  sin 
that  dwelleth  in  me ;  it  is  the  tyrant  sin,  that  has  full  possession  of  me, 
and  minds  the  dictates  of  my  conscience  no  more  than  an  inexorable, 
taskmaster  minds  the  cries  of  an  oppressed  slave. 

2.  If  the  pure  love  of  God  was  shed  abroad  in  St.  Paul's  heart  ; 
and  constrained  him,  he  dwelt  in  love,  and  of  consequence  in  God  ; 
for  St.  John  says.  He  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in 
him. — He  that  is  in  you,  is  greater  than  he  that  is  in  the  world.  Now 
if  God  dwelt  in  Paul  by  his  loving  Spirit,  it  becomes  our  objectors 
to  show  that  an  indwelling  God,  and  indwelling  sin,  are  one  and  the 
same  thing  ;  or  that  the  apostle  had  strangely  altered  his  doctrine 
when  he  asked  with  indignation,  What  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial  ? 
For  if  indwelling  sin,  the  Belial  within,  was  necessary  to  nestle  with 
Christ  in  St.  Paul's  heart,  and  in  the  hearts  of  all  believers,  should 
not  the  apostle  have  rather  cried  out  with  admiration,  "  See  how 
great  is  the  concord  between  Christ  and  Belial  ?  They  are  insepa- 
rable !  They  always  live  in  the  same  heart  together  :  and  nothing 
ever  parted  them  but  what  parts  man  and  wife,  that  is,  death.''"' 

3.  If  a  reluctance  to  serve  the  law  of  sin  be  a  proof  that  we  are 
holy  as  Paul  was  holy,  is  there  not  joy  in  heaven  over  the  apostolic 
holiness  of  most  robbers  and  murderers  in  the  kingdom  ?  Can  they 
not  sooner  or  later  say,  "  With  my  mind,  or  conscience,  /  serve  the 
law  of  God  :  but  with  my  flesh  the  law  of  sin.  How  to  perform  what 
is  good  I  find  not.  I  would  be  honest  and  loving,  if  1  could  be  so 
without  denying  myself;  but  I  find  a  law  that  when  I  would  do  good, 
evil  is  present  with  me  ?  For  can  any  thing  be  stronger  upon  this  head 
than  the  words  of  the  inhuman  princess,  who  being  at  the  point  of 
committing  murder,  cried  out ;  *'  My  mind,  that  is,  my  reason  or  con- 


224  THE   LAST   CHECK 

science,  leads  me  to  one  thing,  but  my  new,  impetuous  passion ^  carries 
me  to  another  against  my  will.  I  sec,  1  approve  what  is  right,  but  I  do 
what  is  criminal.''* 

Ahg  IV.  "  The  man  whose  experience  is  described  in  Rom.  vii.  is 
said  to  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man,  and  to  serve  the 
law  of  God  with  the  mind;  therefore  he  was  partaker  of  apostolic 
holiness." 

Ans.  Does  he  not  also  say.  With  the  flesh  I  serve  the  law  of  sin  ?  And 
did  not  Medea  say  as  much  in  her  way,  before  she  imbrued  her  hands 
in  innocent  blood  ?  What  else  could  she  mean  when  she  cried  out, 
"  I  see  and  approve  zvith  my  mind  what  is  right,  though  I  do  what  is  cri^ 
minal ?'^  Did  not  the  Pharis^ees  for  a  time  rejoice  in  the  burning  and 
shining  light  of  John  the  Baptist?  And  does  not  an  evangelis^t  inform 
us,  that  Herod  himself  heard  that  man  of  God  [nhax;]  with  delight,  and 
did  many  things  too  ?  Mark  vi.  20.  But  is  thi»  a  proof  that  either 
Medea,  the  Pharisees,  or  Herod,  had  attained  apostolic  holiness  ? 

Arg.  V.  ^'  The  person  who  describes  his  unavailing  struj^gles  under 
the  power  of  sin,  cries  out  at  last,  Who  shall  deliver  me  ?  kc.  and  im- 
mediately expresses  a  hope  of  future  deliverance  ;  thanking  God  for 
it,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Rom.  vii.  24,  25.  Does  not  this 
show  that  the  carnal  man,  sold  under  sin,  was  a  Christian  believer,  and 
of  consequence,  Paul  himself?" 

Ans.  This  shows  only  that  the  man  sold  under  sin,  and  groaning 
for  evangelical  liberty,  is  supported  under  his  unhappy  circumstances 
by  a  hope  of  deliverance  ;  and  that,  when  the  law,  like  a  severe 
schoolmaster,  has  almost  brought  him  to  Jesus  Christ :  when  he  is 
come  to  the  borders  of  Canaan,  and  is  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  the  city  of  refuge,  he  begins  to  look  and  long  earnestly  for 
Christ,  and  has  at  times  comfortable  hopes  of  deliverance  through 
him.  He  has  a  faith  that  desires  liberty,  but  not  a  fltith  that  obtains  it. 
He  has  a  degree  of  the  faith  to  be  healed,  which  is  mentioned  Acts 
xix.  9.  but  he  has  not  yet  the  actually  healing,  prevailing  faith  which 
St.  John  calls  the  victory,  and  which  is  accompanied  with  an  internal 
witness  that  Christ  is  formed  in  our  hearts.  It  is  absurd  to  confound 
the  carnal  man  who  struggles  into  Christ  and  liberty,  saying,  Who  shall 
deliver  me,  kc.  with  the  spiritual  man,  who  is  come  to  Christ,  stands 
in  his  redeeming  power,  and  witnesses  that  the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life 
in  Christ  Jesus,  has  made  him  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.     The 


Scd  trahit  invitaoi  nova  vis,  aliudque  cupido, 

Mens  ali  ud  suadet.     Video  meliora,  proboqup, 

Detcriora  sequor.  Ovid. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  225 

one  may  say  in  his  hopeful  moments,  /  thn7ik  God,  [shall  have  the  vic- 
tory through  Jesus  Christ:  but  the  other  can  say,  I  have  it  now. 
Thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lordy 
1  Cor.  XV.  57.  The  one  wishes  for,  and  the  other  enjoys  liberty  : 
the  one  has  ineffectual  desires,  and  the  other  has  victorious  habits. 
Such  is  the  contrast  between  the  carnal  penitent  described  in  Kom. 
vii.  14.  and  the  obedient  believer  described  in  Rom.  viii.  "  There 
is  a  great  difference,"  says  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whilefidd,  "  between  good 
desires  and  good  habits.  Many  have  the  one,  who  never  attain  the 
other."  Many  come  up  to  the  experience  of  a  carnal  penitent,  who 
never  attain  the  experience  of  an  obedient  believer.  *'  Many  have 
good  desires  to  subdue  sin  :  and  yet,  resting  in  these  good  desires  sin 
has  always  had  the  dominion  over  tliem ;"  uith  the  flesh  they  have 
always  served  the  law  of  sin.  •'  A  person  sick  of  a  fever  may  desire 
to  be  in  health,  but  that  desire  is  not  health  itself."  Whitefield's  Works, 
vol.  iv.  page  7.  If  the  Calvinists  would  do  justice  to  this  important 
distinction,  they  would  soon  drop  the  argument  which  1  answer,  and 
the  yoke  of  carnality  which  they  try  to  tix  upon  St.  Paul's  neck. 

Arg.  VI.  "  You  plead  hard  for  the  apostle's  spirituality  :  but  his 
own  plain  confession  shows  that  he  was  really  carnal  and  sold  under 
sin.  Does  he  not  say  to  the  Corinthians,  that  there  was  given  him  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  him,  lest  he  should  be 
exalted  above  measure  by  the  abundance  of  the  revelations  which  had 
been  vouchsafed  him  ?  2  Cor.  xii.  7.  Now  what  could  this  thorn  in 
the  flesh  be,  but  a  sinful  lust?  And  what  this  messenger  of  Satan,  but 
pride  or  immoderate  anger?  Thrice  he  besought  the  Lord  that  these 
plagues  might  depart  from  him,  but  God  would  not  hear  him.  Indwell- 
ing sin  was  to  keep  him  humble  ;  and  if  St.  Paul  stood  in  need  of  that 
remedy,  how  much  more  we  ?" 

Ans.  1.  Indwelling  anger  keeps  us  angry ^  and  not  meek  :  indwelling 
pride  keeps  us  proud,  and  not  humble.  The  streams  answer  to  the 
fountain.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  a  salt  spring  will  send  forth 
fresh  water. 

2.  You  entirely  mistake  the  apostle's  meaning.  While  you  try 
to  make  him  a  modest  imperfectionist,  you  inadvertently  represent 
him  as  an  impudent  Antinomian ;  for,  speaking  of  his  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  and  of  the  buffeting  of  Satan^s  messenger,  he  calls  them  his  infir- 
mities: and  says.  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  glory  in  my  infirmities. 
Now  if  his  infirmities  were  pride,  a  wrathful  disposition,  and  a  filthy 
lust;  did  he  not  act  the  part  of  a  filthy  Antinomian,  when  he  said  that 
he  gloried  in  them  ?  Would  not  even  Paul's  carnal  man  have  blushed 

Vor..  IV.  29 


2^6  THE    LAST    CHECK 

to  speak  thus  ?  Far  from  glorying  in  his  pride,  wrath,  or  indwelhn^- 
lust,  difl  he  not  groan,  O  wretched  man  that  I  am? 

3.  The  apostle,  still  speaking  of  his  thorn  in  the  flesh,  and  of  Satan 
buffeting  him  by  proxy,  and  still  calling  these  trials  his  infirmities^ 
explains  himself  farther  in  these  words  :  Therefore  I  take  pleasure  in 
infirmities,  in  reproaches,  in  persecutions,  4*c.  for  Christ's  sake  :  for 
when  I  am  weak  then  am  I  strong.     Chrises  strength  is  made  perfect  in 

my  weakness.     Those  infirmities that  thorn  in  the  flesh that 

buffeting  of  Satan,  cannot  then  be  indwelling  sin,  or  any  outbreaking 
of  it ;  for  the  devil  himself  could  do  no  more  than  to  take  pleasure  ia 
his  wickedness  :  and  in  Rom.  vii.  the  carnal  penitent  himselt  delights 
in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man,  instead  of  taking  pleasure  in 
his  indwelling  sin. 

4.  The  infirmities  in  which  St.  Paul  glories  and  takes  pleasure^ 
were  such  as  had  been  given  him  to  keep  him  humble  after  his  reve- 
lations. There  was  given  to  me  a  thorn  in  the  fiesh,  &c.  2  Cor.  xii. 
7.  Those  infirmities,  and  that  thorn,  wore  not  then  indwelling  sin^ 
for  indwelling  sin  was  not  given  him  at\er  his  visions  ;  seeing  it  stuck 
fast  in  him  long  before  he  went  to  Damascus.  It  is  absurd  therefore 
to  suppose  that  God  gave  him  the  thorn  of  indwelling  sin  afterward, 
or  indeed  that  he  gave  it  him  at  all. 

6.  If  Vlr.  Hill  wants  to  know  what  we  understand  by  St.  Paul's 
thorn  in  the  fiesh,  and  by  the  messenger  of  Satan  that  buffeted  him  :  we 
reply,  that  we  understand  his  bodily  infirmities the  great  weak- 
ness, and  the  violent  headach,  with  which  Tertullian  and  St.  Chrysos- 
tom  inform  us  the  apostle  was  afflicted.  The  same  God  who  said  to 
Satan  concerning  Job,  Behold,  he  is  in  thine  hand  to  touch  his  bone  and 
his  fiesh,  but  save  his  life  :  the  same  God,  who  permitted  that  adversary 
to  bind  a  daughter  of  Abraham  with  a  spirit  of  bodily  infirmity  for 
eighteen  years,  the  same  gracious  God,  I  say,  permitted  Satan  to  afflict 
St.  PauTs  body  with  uncommon  pains  ;  and  at  times,  it  seems,  with 
preternatural  weakriess,  which  made  his  appearance  and  delivery 
contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  his  adversaries.  That  this  is  not  a  con- 
jecture, grounded  upon  uncertain  tradition,  is  evident  from  the  apos- 
tle's own  words  two  pages  before.  His  letters,  say  they,  [that  buffeted 
me  jn  the  name  of  Satan]  are  weighty  and  powerful ;  but  his  bodily 
presence  is  weak,  and  his  speech  contemptible,  2  Cor.  x.  10.  And  soon 
after,  describing  these  emissaries  of  the  devil,  he  says,  Such  are  false 
apostles,  deceitful  workers,  transforming  themselves  into  the  apostles  of 
Christ,  [to  opj>ose  me,  and  to  prejudice  you  against  my  ministry  :]  and 
no  marvel :  for  Satan  himself  [who  sets  them  on]  is  transformed  into  an 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  227 

angel  of  light,  2  Cor.  xi.  13.  But  if  the  (horn  in  the  Jlesh  be  all  one 
with  the  hiffeting  messenger  of  Satan.  St.  Paul's  meanino;  is  evidently 
this  :  *'  God  who  suffered  the  Canaanites  to  be  scourges  in  the  sides 
of  the  Israelites,  and  thorns  in  their  eyes,  Josh,  xxiii.  13.  has  suffered 
Satan  to  bruise  niy  heel,  while  I  bruise  his  head  :  and  that  adversary 
afflicts  me  thus,  by  his  thorns  and  prickiny;  briers,  th,«t  is,  by  false 
apostles,  who  buffet  me  through  malicious  misrepresentations,  which 
render  me  vile  in  your  sight." — This  sense  is  strongly  countenanced 
by  these  words  of  Ezekiel,  They  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord,  and 
there  shall  be  no  more  a  pricking  brier  to  the  home  of  Israel,  nor  any 
grieving  thorn  of  all  that  ore  round  about  them,  that  despised  them, 
Ezek.  xxviii.  24. 

Both  these  senses  agree  with  reason  and  godliness,  with  the  text 
and  the  context.  Satan  immediately  pierced  the  apostle's  body  with 
preternatural  pain  :  and,  by  the  malice  oifalse  brethren,  the  opposition 
of  false  apostles  within  the  church,  and  the  tierceness  of  cruel  perse- 
cutors without,  he  immediately  endeavoured  to  cast  down  or  destroy 
the  zealous  apostle.  But  Paul  walked  in  the  perfect  way,  and  we 
may  well  say  of  him,  what  was  said  of  Job  on  a  similar  occasion,  In 
all  this  Paul  sinned  not,  as  appears  from  his  own  words  in  this  very 
epistle  :  /  am  exceedingly  joyful  in  all  our  tribulation. — Our  Jlesh  had 
no  rest,  but  zee  were  troubled  on  every  side  :  without  the  church  were 
fightings,  within  were  fears:  we  had  furious  opposition  from  the  hea- 
thens without :  and  within,  we  feared  lest  our  brethren  should  be 
discouraged  by  the  number  and  violence  of  our  adversaries  ;  Never- 
theless God,  who  comforteth  those  that  are  cast  down,  comforted  us. — We 
are  troubled  on  every  side,  yet  not  distressed ;  we  are  perplexed,  but  not 
in  despair  ;  persecuted,  but  not  forsaken;  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed ; 
always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus. — For 
which  cause  we  faint  not ;  but  though  our  outward  man  perish  through 
the  thorns  in  our  flesh,  and  the  buffetings  of  Satan,  yet  the  inward 
man  is  renewed  day  by  day : — it  grows  stronger   and    stronger  in  the 

Lord. When  1  see  St.  Paul  hear  up  with  such  undaunted  fortitude, 

under  the  bruising  hand  of  Satan's  messengers,  and  the  pungent 
operation  of  the  thorns  in  his  flesh,  methinks  1  see  the  general  of  the 
Christians  waving  the  standard  of  Christian  perfection,  and  crying, 
Be  ye  follo7vers  of  me  : — Be  wholly  spiritual. — T(jke  wito  you  the  whole 
armour  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  withstaiid  in  the  evil  day,  and 
having  done  all,  to  stand,  and  to  witness  with  me,  that  m  all  these 
things  we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that  hath  loved  us. 

Arg.  VII.  "  You  extol  the  apo-^tle  loo  much.  He  certainly  was  a 
carnal  man  still  :  for  St.  Luke  informs  us.  that  the  contention  [-rupo^- 


228  THE  LAST  CHECK 

v(rfAo<i]  was  so  sharp  between  Barnabas  and  liim,  that  they  departed 
asunder  one  from  the  other,  Acts  xv.  39.  Now  charity  [a  Trocpo^weretil 
is  not  provoked,  or  does  not  contend.  Strife  or  contention  is  one  of  the 
fruits  of  the  flesh,  and  if  St.  Paul  bore  that  fruit,  1  do  not  see  why 
you  should  scruple  to  call  him  a  carnal,  wretched  n)an,  sold  under 
sin." 

Ans.  1.  Every  contention  is  not  sinful.  The  apostle  says  himself, 
"  Contend  for  the  faith. — Be  angry  and  sin  not. — It  is  good  to  be 
ze;df)t)sly  affected  always  in  a  good  thing." — Jesus-  Christ  did  not 
break  the  law  of  love,  when  he  looked  round  with  anger  upon  the 
Pharisees;  being  grieved  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts.  Nor  does 
Moses  charge  sin  upon  God,  where  he  says,  The  Lord  rooted  them  out 
of  their  land  in  anger,  and  in  wrath,  and  in  great  indignation.  If  St. 
Paul  had  contended  in  an  uncharitable  manner,  I  would  directly  grant 
that  in  that  hour  he  fell  from  Christian  perfection  ;  for  we  assert, 
that  as  a  carnal  professor  may  occasionally  cross  Jordan,  take  a  turn 
into  the  good  land,  and  come  back  into  the  wilderness,  as  the  spies  did 
in  the  days  of  Joshua  ;  so  a  spiritual  man,  who  lives  in  Canaan,  may 
occasionally  draw  back,  and  take  a  turn  in  the  wilderness,  especially 
before  he  is  strengthened,  established,  and  settled  under  his  heavenly 
vine,  in  the  good  land  that  flows  with  spiritual  milk  and  honey.  But 
this  was  not  the  apostle's  case.  There  is  not  the  least  intimation  given 
of  his  sinning  in  the  affair.  Barnabas,  says  the  historian,  determined 
to  take  with  them  his  own  nephew,  John  Mark ;  but  Paul  thought  not 
good  to  do  it,  because  when  they  had  tried  him  before,  he  went  not 
with  them  to  the  work,  but  departed  from  them  from  Pamphylia,  Acts 
XV.  38.  Now,  by  every  rule  of  reason  and  Scripture,  Paul  was  in 
the  right  :  for  we  are  to  try  the  spirits,  and  lovingly  to  beware  of 
men,  especially  of  such  men  as  have  already  made  us  smart  by  their 
cowardly  tickleness,  as  John  Mark  had  done,  when  he  had  left  the 
itinerant  apostles  in  the  midst  of  their  dangers. 

With  respect  to  the  word  y7rot^o^v(ri^(^)  contention  or  provoking,  it 
is  used  in  a  good,  as  well  as  in  a  bad  sense.  Thus  Heb.  x.  24.  we 
read  of  [Trctpo^vo-fMv  uyotTna)  a  contention,  or  a  provoking  unto  love  and 
good  works.  And  therefore,  granting  that  a  grain  of  partiality  to  his 
nephew  made  Barnabas  stretch  too  much  that  tine  saying.  Charity 
hopeth  all  things ;  yet  from  the  circurastani.es  o{  Barnabas^ s  parting 
with  St.  Paul,  we  have  not  the  least  proof  that  St.  Paul  stained  at  all 
his  Christian  perfection  in  the  affair. 

If  the  reader  will  properly  weigh  these  answers  to  the  arguments, 
by  which  our  opponents  try  to  stain  the  character  of  St.  Paul  as  a 
spiritual  man,  he  will  see,  I  hope,  that  the  apostle  is  as  much  mis- 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  229 

represented  by  Mr.  Hiirs  doctrine,  as  Christian  Perfection  is  by  his 
fictitious  creed. 


SECTION    IX. 


St.  Paul,  instead  of  owning  himself  a  carnal  man,  still  sold  under  sin, 
presents  us  with  a  striking  picture  of  the  perfect  Christian,  by  occa- 
sionally describing  his  own  spirituality  and  heavenly  rnindedness. 
And  therefore  his  genuine  experiences  are  so  many  proofs,  that  Chris- 
tian Perfection  is  attainable,  and  has  actually  been  attained  in  this 
life. — What  St.  Augustine  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  once  thought 
of  Rom.  vii. — Jlnd  how  near  this  last  Divine,  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Romaine,  sometimes  come  to  the  doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection. 

Mr.  Hill's  mistake,  with  respect  to  St.  Paul's  supposed  carnality, 
is  so  much  the  more  astonishing,  as  the  apostle's  professed  spiritua- 
lity not  only  clears  him,  but  demonstrates  the  truth  of  our  doctrine. 
Having  therefore  rescued  his  character  from  under  the  feet  of  those 
who  tread  his  honour  in  the  dust,  and  sell  his  person  under  sin  at  an 
Antinomian  market,  I  shall  retort  the  argument  of  our  opponents  ; 
and  appealing  to  St.  Paul's  genuine  and  undoubted  experiences,  when 
he  taught  wisdom  among  the  perfect,  I  shall  present  the  reader  with 
a  picture  of  the  perfect  Christian  drawn  at  full  length.  Nor  need  I 
inform  Mr.  Hill,  that  the  misrepresented  apostle  sits  for  his  own  pic- 
ture before  the  glass  of  evangelical  sincerity  :  and  that  turning  spi- 
ritual self-painter,  with  the  pencil  of  a  good  conscience,  and  with 
colours  mixed  by  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  he  draws  this  admirable  por- 
trait from  the  life 

Be  followers  of  me. — This  one  thing  I  do;  leaving  the  things  that 
are  behind,  I  press  towards  the  mark,  for  the  prize  of  my  heavenly  call- 
ing [a  crown  of  glory]. — Charity  is  the  bond  of  perfection. — Love  is 
the  fulfilling  of  the  law. — //'  /  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing.  And 
what  charity,  or  love,  St.  Paul  had,  appears  from  Christ's  words  and 
from  his  own. — Greater,  [i.  e.  more  perfect]  love  hath  no  man  than 
this,  says  our  Lord,  that  he  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends  :  now,  this 
very  love  Paul  had  for  Christ,  for  souls,  yea,  for  the  souls  of  his 
fiercest  adversaries,  the  Jews.  Hear  him.  The  love  of  Christ  con- 
straineth  us. — For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain. — /  long  to 
depart  and  to  be  with  Christ. — I  count  not  my  Ufe  dear  uvto  myself,  that  I 
may  finish  my  course  with  joy. — /  am  ready  not  to  be  bo^md  only^  but  to 


230  THE    LAST    CHECK 

die  also  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. — //  /  be  offered  upon  the  sacrifice 
and  service  of  your  faith^  I  joy  and  rejoice  with  youxLll.  And  in  the  next 
chapter  bul  one  to  that,  in  which  the  apostle  is  supposed  to  profess 
hinnself  actually  sold  under  sin.,  he  professes  perfect  love  to  his  sworn 
enemies ;  even  that  love  by  which  the  righteousness  of  the  low  is  ful- 
filled in  them  who  walk  after  the  Spirit.  Hear  him.  I  say  the  truth  in 
Christ,  I  lie  not:  my  conscience  also  beating  me  witness  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  that  /,  4^c.  could  wish  that  myself  zmre  accursed,  i.  e.  made  a 
curse  [ecTTo  X^ia-Ta^  after  the  example  of  Chnst,  for  my  kinsmen  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh;  meaning  his  inexorable,  bloody  persecutors,  the 
Jews. 

Nor  was  this  love  of  St.  Paul  like  a  land-flood  :  it  constantly  flowed 
like  a  river.  This  living  water  sprang  up  constantly  in  his  soul  :  wit- 
ness these  words  :  Remember,  that,  by  the  space  of  three  years,  I  ceased 
not  to  warn  every  one  night  and  day  with  tears. — Of  many  I  hove  told  you 
often,  and  now  tell  yon  even  weeping,  that  they — mind  earthly  things : 
for  our  conversation  is  in  heaven. — Our  rejoicing  is  this,  the  testimony  of 
our  conscience,  that  in  simplicity,  and  godly  sincerity,  not  with  fleshly  wis- 
dom, but  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  have  had  our  conversation  in  the  world. 
— I  know  nothing  [i.  e.  no  evil]  by,  [or  of]  myself. — We  can  do  nothing 
against  the  truth,  but  for  the  truth.  Whtther  we  are  beside,  i.  e. 
carried  out  beyond,  ourselves,  it  is  to  God :  or  whether  we  be  sober,  i.  e. 
calm,  it  is  for  your  cause :  i.  e.  the  love  of  God  and  man  is  the  only 
source  of  all  my  tempers. — "  Giving  no  offence  in  atiy  thing,  but  in  all 
things  approving  ourselves  as  the  ministers  of  God,  in  much  patience,  by 
pureness,  by  kindness,  by  love  unfeigned ; — being  filled  with  comfort,  and 
exceedingly  joy fxd  in  all  our  tribulation. — I  will  gladly  spend  and  be  spent 
for  you :  though  the  moi'e  abundantly  I  love  you,  the  less  I  be  loved :  [a  rare 
instance  this  of  the  most  perfect  love  !] — We  speak  before  God  in 
Christ,  we  do  all  things,  dearly  beloved,  for  your  edifying. — I  am  cruci- 
fied zmth  Christ :  nevertheless  I  live,  yet  not  I  [See  here  the  destruc- 
tion of  sinful  self!]  but  Christ  liveth  in  me;  and  the  life  I  now  live  in 
the  flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God. — ^5  always,  so  now  also^ 
Christ  shall  be  magnified  in  my  body,  whether  it  be  by  life  or  by  death. 
We  worship  God  in  the  spirit,  and  rejoice  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  have  no 
confidence  in  the  flesh. — Mark  them  who  walk  so,  as  ye  have  us  for  an 
example.  I  have  learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith  to  be  con- 
tent :  every  where,  and  in  all  things  I  am  instructed  both  to  abound  and 
to  suff'er  need;  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who  strengtheneth  me. 
— Teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom,  that  I  may  present  every  man  per- 
fect in  Christ  Jesus ;  whereunto  also  I  labour,  striving  according  to  hit 
rvorking,  which  workeih  in  me  mightily. 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  231 

This  descrijiifion  of  the  perfect  Christian,  and  of  St.  Paul,  is  so 
exceedingly  i^lorioiis  ;  and  it  appears  to  me  such  a  refutation  of  the 
Calvinian  mistake  which  I  oppose,  that  1  cannot  deny  myself  the 
pleasure,,  and  my  readers  the  edification  of  seeing  the  misrepresented 
apostle  give  his  own  lovely  picture  a  feiv  more  tinishing  strokes. — 
We  speak  not  as  pleasing  men,  says  he,  but  as  pleasing  God,  who  trieth 
our  hearts.  For  neither  at  any  time  used  tvejlaltering  words,  4"C.,  God 
is  witness  :  nor  of  men  sought  we  glory,  neither  of  you,  nor  yet  of  others. 
— But  we  were  gentle  among  you,  even  as  a  nurse  cherisheth  her  chil- 
dren. — Being  affectionately  desirous  of  you,  we  were  willing  to  have 
imparted  to  you,  not  the  Gospel  of  God  only,  but  also  our  own  souls ; 
— labouring  night  and  day,  because  we  would  not  be  chargeable  to  any 
of  you.  Ye  are  witnesses,  and  God  also,  how  holily,  and  justly,  and 
unblameably  we  behaved  ourselves  among  you. — The  Lord  make  you 
abound  in  love  one  towards  another,  and  towards  all  men,  even  as  we  do 
towards  you. — Thvu  hast  fully  known  my  manner  of  life,  purpose,  faith, 
long-suffering,  charity,  patience. — /  have  kept  the  faith:  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  Judge,  shall  give  in  that  day. 

When  I  read  this  wonderful  experience  of  St.  Paul,  written  by 
himself;  and  see  his  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  so  gloriously 
exemplifi'd  in  his  own  tempers  and  conduct;  I  am  surprised,  that 
good  men  should  still  confound  Saul  the  Jew  with  Paul  the  Christian; 
and  should  take  the  son  of  the  earthly  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  bondage 
with  her  children,  for  the  son  of  the  Jerusalem  from  above,  which  is 
free,  and  is  the  mother  of  us  all,  who  stand  in  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  hath  made  us  free. — But,  upon  second  thoughts,  I  wonder  no 
more  :  for  if  those  who  engross  to  themselves  the  title  of  Catholics, 
can  beheve  that  Christ  took  his  own  body  into  his  own  fingers,  broke 
it  through  the  middle,  when  he  took  bread,  broke  it,  and  said,  Tliis  is 
my  body  which  is  broken  for  you;  why  cannot  those,  who  monopolize 
the  name  of  orthodox  among  us,  believe  also  that  St.  Paul  spoke 
without  a  figure  when  he  said,  I  am  carnal,  and  sold  under  sin,  and 
brought  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members. — 
Brethren,  1  beseech  you  be  as  I  am: — Those  thijigs  which  ye  have  heard 
and  seen  in  me,  do,  and  the  God  of  peace  shall  be  with  you.  Now  you 
have  heai'd  and  seen,  that  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do  ;  and  that 
with  my  flesh  I  serve  the  law  of  sin.  In  short,  you  have  heard  aod« 
seen  that  I  am  carnal  and  sold  under  sin. 

I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  carnal  and  injudicious  professors 
should  contend  for  this  contradictory  doctrine,  this  flesh-pleasing 
**tandard  of  Calvinian  inconsistency,  and  Christian  imperfection.    Rut 


232  THE    LAST    CHECK 

that  good,  and  in  other  respects  judicious  men,  should  so  zealously 
contend  for  it,  appears  to  me  astonishing!  They  can  never  design  to 
con^onndi  carnal  bo7idage  with  evangelical  liberty^  and  St.  Paul's  Chris- 
tian experience  with  that  of  Medea,  and  "  Mr.  Fulsome,'"  in  order  to 
countenance  gross  Antinomianism  :  nor  can  they  take  any  pleasure  in 
misrepresenting  the  holy  apostle.  Why  do  they  then  patronize  so 
great  a  mistake  ?  I  answer  still :  By  the  same  reason  which  makes 
pious  Papists  believe  that  consecrated  bread  is  the  real  flesh  of  Christ. 
Their  priests  and  the  Pope  say  so  :  Some  figurative  expressions  of 
our  Lord  seem  to  countenance  their  saying.  We  Protestants,  whom 
the  Papists  call  carnal  reasoners  and  heretics,  are  of  a  different  senti- 
ment :  and  should  they  believe  as  we  do,  their  humility  and  ortho- 
doxy would  be  in  danger.  Apply  this  to  the  present  case.  Calvinian 
Divines  and  St.  Augustine  affirm,  that  St.  Paul  humbly  spake  his  pre- 
sent experience  when  he  said,  /  am  carnal,  ^c.  We  who  are  called 
♦*  Arminians  and  Perfectionists,"  think  the  contrary  ;  and  our  pious 
opponents  suppose,  that  if  they  thought  as  we  do,  they  should  lose 
their  humility  and  orthodoxy.  Their  error  therefore  springs  chiefly 
from  mistaken  fears,  and  not  from  a  wilful  opposition  to  truth. 

Nor  is  St.  Augustine  fully  for  our  opponents  :  we  have  our  part  in 
the  Bishop  of  Hippo  as  well  as  they.  If  he  was  for  them,  when  his 
controversy  with  Pelagius  had  heated  him ;  he  was  for  us  when  he 
yet  stood  upon  the  scriptural  line  of  moderation.  Tlien  he  fairly 
owned  that  the  man,  who  the  apostle  personates  in  Rom  vii.  is  "  ho7no 
sub  lege  positus  ante  gratiam;  a  man  under  the  [condemning,  irritating] 
power  of  the  law,  who  is  yet  a  stranger  to  the  liberty  and  power  of 
Christ's  Gospel.  Therefore,  if  Mr.  Hill  claim  St.  Augustine  the 
prejudiced  controvertist,  we  claim  St.  Augustine  the  unprejudiced 
Father  of  the  Church  ;  or  rather,  setting  aside  his  dubious  authority, 
we  continue  our  appeal  to  unprejudiced  reason  and   plain  Scripture. 

What  I  say  of  St.  Augustine  may  be  said  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield. 
Before  he  had  embraced  St.  Augustine's  mistakes,  which  are  known 
among  us  by  the  name  of  Calvinism,  he  believed,  as  well  as  that 
Father,  that  the  disconsolate  man  who  groans,  Who  shall  deliver  me  ? 
is  not  a  possessor,  but  a  seeker  of  Christian  liberty.  To  prove  it  I 
need  only  transcribe  the  latter  part  of  his  sermon,  entitled  The  Marks 
of  the  New  Birth. 

"  Thirdly,  [says  he]  I  address  myself  to  those  who  are  under  the 
drawings  of  the  Father,  and  are  going  through  the  spirit  of  bondage : 
but  not  finding  the  marks  [of  the  nezv  birth]  before-mentioned,  are 
ever  crying  out  [as  the  carnal  penitent,  Rom.  vii.]  M^ho  shall  deliver 
us  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  Despair  not :  for  notwithstanding  your 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  233 

present  trouble,  it  may  be  the  divine  pleasure  to  give  you  the  king- 
dom." Hence  it  appears  that  Mr.  Whitefield  did  not  look  upon  such 
mourners  as  Christian  believers  ;  but  only  as  persons  who  might  become 
such  if  they  earnestly  sought.  He  therefore  most  judiciouslj  ex- 
horts thera  to  seek  till  they  tind.  *'  The  grace  of  God  through  Jesus 
Christ,"  adds  he,  ''is  able  to  deliver  you,  and  give  you  what  you 
want  :  even  you  may  receive  the  spirit  of  adoption,  the  promise  of 
the  Father.  All  things  are  po!«sible  with  him  •  persevere,  therefore, 
in  seeking,  and  determine  to  find  no  rest  in  your  spirit,  till  you  know 
and  feel,  that  you  are  thus  born  again  from  abo\  e,  and  God's  Spirit 
ivitnpsses  with  you  spirits,  that  you  are  tlie  children  of  God." 

What  immediately  follows  is  a  demonstration  that,  at  that  time,  Mr. 
JVhiteJleld  was  no  enemy  to  Christian  perfection,  and  thought  that 
some  had  actually  attained  it;  or  else  nothing  would  have  been  more 
trifling  than  his  concluding  address  to  perfect  Christians.  Take  hi^ 
own  words,  and  remember  that  when  he  preached  them,  by  the 
ardour  of  his  zeal,  and  the  devotedness  of  his  heart,  he  showed  him- 
eelf  a  young  man  in  Christ,  able  to  trample  under  foot  the  most  allu- 
ring baits  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  world. 

"  Fourthly  and  lastly,  [says  he]  I  address  myself  to  those,  who 
have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  in  all  its  sanctifying  graces,  and  are 
almost  ripe  for  glory.  Hail,  happy  saints  I  For  your  heaven  is  begun 
upon  earth.  You  have  already  received  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit, 
and  are  patiently  waiting  till  that  blessed  change  come,  when  your  har- 
vest shall  be  complete.  I  see  and  admire  you,  though,  al;«s  !  at  so 
great  a  distance  from  you.*  Your  life  I  know,  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God.  You  have  comforts,  you  have  meat  to  eat,  which  a  sinful,  car- 
nal world  knows  nothing  of.  Christ's  yoke  is  become  easy  to  you,  and 
his  burden  light:  you  have  passed  through  the  pangs  of  the  new 
birth,  and  now  rejoice  that  Christ  Jesus  is  formed  in  your  hearts. 
You  know  what  it  is  to  dwell  in  Christ,  and  Christ  in  you.  Like 
Jacob's  ladder,  although  your  bodies  are  on  earth,  yet  your  souls  and 
hearts  are  in  heaven  ;  and  b}'  your  faith  and  constant  recollection,  like 
the  blessed  angels,  you  do  always  behold  the  face  of  your  Father y   which 

*  At  that  time  Mr.  JVhilcJield  was  in  Orders,  and  had  received  the  spirit  of  adoption. 
As  a  proof  of  it  I  appeal,  1.  To  the  account  of  his  conversion  at  Oxford  before  he  was 
ordained  :  and  2.  To  these  his  own  words,  '*  I  can  say  to  the  honour  of  rich,  fiee,  distin- 
guishing grace,  that  I  received  the  spirit  of  adoption  before  I  had  conversed  with  one  man, 
or  read  a  single  book  on  the  doctrine  of  free  justification  by  the  imputed  righteousness  of 
Jesus  Christ." — That  is,  before  he  had  had  any  opportunity  of  being  drawn  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  Scripture  Gospel  into  the  Calvinian  refinoments.  See  his  Works,  Vol.  IV. 
page  45. — Now,  those  Christians,  who  leave  babes  and  young  men  in  Christ  "  at  so  great  a 
distance  from  them,"  are  the  very  persons  whom  we  call  Fitthers  in  Christ,  or  per  ffc^ 
Christians. 

Vol.  IV,  30 


'ia4  THE  LAST  CHECK 

is  in  heaven.  I  need  not  then  exhort  you  to  press  forxmrd,  ^'C,  Ratbex 
I  will  exhort  you  in  patien9e  to  possess  your  souls  :  yet  a  little  while, 
and  Jesus  Christ  will  deliver  you  from  the  burden  of  the  flesh,  and 
an  abundant  entrance  shall  be  administered  unto  you  into  the  eternal 
joy,  kc.  of  his  heavenly  kingdom."  I  have  met  with  few  descrip- 
tions of  the  perfect  Christian  that  please  me  better  I  make  but  one 
objection  to  it.  Mr.  Whitejield  thought  that  the  believers  who  "  by 
constant  recollection,  like  the  blessed  angels,  always  behold  the  face  of 
their  Father,''  are  so  advanced  in  grace,  that  they  "  need  not  be  ex- 
horted to  press  forward.''  This  is  carrying  the  doctrine  of  perfection 
higher  than  Mr.  Wesley  ever  did.  For  my  part,  were  I  to  preach  to 
a  congregation  of  such  "  happy  saints,"  I  would  not  scruple  taking 
this  test.  So  run  that  ye  may  [eternally]  obtain:  nor  would  I  forget  to 
set  before  them  the  example  of  the  perfect  apostle,  who  said,  7'his 
one  thing  I  do,  leaving  the  things  that  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth,  I 
press  towards  the  mark,  <^c.  Had  I  been  in  Mr.  Whitefield's  case,  I 
own,  I  would  either  have  refused  to  join  the  imperfectionists,  or  I 
would  have  recanted  my  address  to  perfect  Christians. 

So  strong  is  the  scriptural  tide  in  favour  of  our  doctrine,  that  it 
sometimes  carried  away  the  Rev.  Mr.  Romaine  himself  Nor  can  I 
confirm  the  wavering  reader  in  his  belief  of  the  possibility  of  obtain- 
ing the  glorious  liberty  which  we  contend  for,  better  than  by  transcri- 
bing a  fine  exhortation  of  that  great  Minister  to  what  we  call  Chris- 
tian perfection  an<J  what  he  calls  The  Walk  of  Faith. 

"  The  new  covenant  runs  thus: — I  will  put,  says  God,  my  law  in 
their  inward  parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts,  &,'C.  The  Lord  here 
engages  to  take  away  the  stony  heart,  and  to  give  a  heart  of  flesh, 
upon  which  he  will  write  the  ten  commandments,  &:c.  The  love  of 
God  will  open  the  contracted  heart,  enlarge  the  selfish,  warm  the 
cold,  and  bring  liberality  out  of  the  covetous.  When  the  Holy  Spirit 
teaches  brotherly  love,  he  overcomes  all  opposition  to  it,  &c.  He 
write-;  upon  their  hearts  the  two  great  commandments,  on  which  hang 
all  the  law  and  the  prophets.  The  love  of  God,  says  the  apostle  to  the 
Romans,  is  shed,  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  to  (he 
Thessalonians,  Ye  yourselves  are  taught  of  God  to  love  one  another. 
Thus  he  engages  the  soul  to  the  holy  law,  and  inclines  the  inner  man 
to  love  obedience.  It  ceases  to  be  a  yoke  and  a  burden.  How  easy 
it  is  to  do  what  one  loves  !  If  you  dearly  love  any  person,  what  a 
pleasure  it  is  to  serve  him  !  What  will  not  love  put  you  upon  doing 
or  suffering  to  oblige  him  I  Let  love  rule  in  the  heart  to  God  and  to 
man,  his  law  will  then  become  delightful,  and  obedience  to  it  will  be 
pleasantness.     The  soul  will  run :  yea,  inspired  by  love  it  will  monn^ 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  236 

wp  with  wings  as  eagles,  in  the  way  of  God's  commandments.  Happy 
are  the  people  that  are  in  such  a  case."  Now,  such  a  case  is  what 
we  call,  The  state  of  Christian  perfection  ;  to  the  ohtaining  of  which 
Mr.  Romaine  excites  his  own  soul  by  the  following  excellent  exhorta- 
tion. 

<'  This  is  the  very  tenor  of  the  covenant  of  grace  which  the 
Almighty  Spirit  h^is  undertaken  to  fulfil,  [if  we  mix  faith  with  the 
promises  as  Mr.  Romaine  himself  will  soon  intimate]  and  he  cannot 
fail  in  his  office.  It  is  his  crown  and  glory  to  make  e;ood  his  cove- 
nant engagements.  O  trust  him  then,  and  put  honour  upon  his  faith- 
fulness, [that  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  make  good  your  own  covenant 
engagements.]  He  has  promised  to  guide  thee  with  his  counsel,  and 
to  strengthen  thee  with  his  might,  <S:c.  What  is  within  thee,  or  with- 
out thee,  to  oppose  thy  walking  in  love  with  him,  he  will  incline  thee 
to  resist,  and  he  will  enable  thee  to  overcome.  O  what  mayest  thou 
not  expect  from  such  a  divine  Friend,  who  is  to  abide  with  thee  on 
purpose  to  keep  thy  heart  right  with  God.  [Query  ;  when  the 
heart  is  kept  full  of  indwelling  sin,  is  it  kept  right  with  God  ?]  What 
cannot  he  do  ? — What  will  he  not  do  for  thee  ?  Such  as  is  the  love  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son,  such  is  the  love  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the 
same  free,  perfect,  everlasting  love.  Read  his  promises  of  it.  Medi- 
tate on  them.  Pray  to  him  for  increasing  faith  to  mix  with  them  ; 
that  he  [not  sin]  dwelling  in  the  temple  of  thy  heart,  thou  mayest 
have  fellowship  there  with  the  Father  and  with  the  Son.  Whatever 
in  thee  is  pardoned  through  the  Son's  atonement,  pray  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  subdue,  that  it  may  not  interrupt  communion  with  thy  God.  And 
whatever  grace  is  to  be  received  out  of  the  fulness  of  Jesus,  in  order 
to  keep  up  and  to  promote  that  communion,  entreat  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
give  it  thee  with  growing  strength.  But  pray  in  faith  nothing  waver- 
ing. So  shall  the  love  of  God  rule  in  thy  heart.  And  then  thou 
shalt  be  like  the  sun,  when  it  goeth  forth  in  its  might,  shining  clearer 
and  clearer  to  the  perfect  day.  O  may  thy  course  be  like  his,  as 
free,  as  regular,  and  as  communicative  of  good,  that  thy  daily  peti- 
tion may  be  answered,  and  that  the  will  of  thy  Father  may  be  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."      Walk  of  Faith.     Vol.  I.   page  237,  Lc. 

I  do  not  produce  this  excellent  quotation  to  insinuate  that  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Romaine  is  a  perfectionist,  but  only  to  edify  the  reader,  and  to 
show  that  the  good,  mistaken  men,  who  are  most  prejudiced  against 
our  doctrine,  see  it  sometimes  so  true,  and  so  excellent,  that,  forget- 
ting their  pleas  for  indwelling  sin,  they  intimate  that  our  daily  petition 
may  be  answered  j  and  that  the  will  of  our  Father  may  be  done  on  earth 


23G  THE    LAST    CHECK 

as  it  is  in  heaven ;  an  expression  this,  which  includes  the  height  and 
depth  of  all  Christian  Perfection, 


SECTION  X. 

St.  John  is  for  Christian  Perfection,  and  not  for  a  Death  Purgatory. 
1  John  i.  8,  &c.  is  explained  agreeably  to  St.  Johns  Design,  the 
Context,  and  the  Fein  of  Holy  Doctrine,  which  runs  through  the  rest 
of  the  Epistle. 

The  Scriptures  declare  that  we  are  built  upon  the  foundation  of 
the  apostles ;  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  (he  chief  corner-stone :  and 
St.  Paul  being  deservedly  considered  as  the  chief  of  the  apostles, 
and  of  consequence,  as  the  chief  stone  of  the  foundation,  on  which, 
next  to  the  corner-stone,  our  holy  religion  is  built  ;  who  can 
wonder  at  the  pains  which  our  opponents  take,  to  represent  this 
important  part  of  our  foundation  as  carnal,  wretched,  and  sold 
under  sin?  Does  not  every  body  see,  that  such  a  foundation  becomes 
the  Antinoni i an  sir aciure  which  is  raised  upon  it  ;  and  is  it  not  incum- 
bent upon  the  opposers  of  Antinomianisra  to  uncover  that  wretched 
foundation  by  removing  the  heaps  of  dirt  in  which  St.  Paul's  spiritu- 
ality is  daily  buried  ;  and  by  this  mean  to  rescue  the  holy  apostle, 
whom  our  adversaries  endeavour  to  sell  under  sin  as  a  carnal  wretch? 
—This  rescue  hns  been  attempted  in  the  four  last  sections.  If  I 
have  succeeded  in  this  charitable  attempt,  I  may  proceed  to  vindi- 
cate the  holiness  of  St.  John  who  is  the  last  apostle  that  Mr.  Hill  calls 
to  the  help  of  indwelling  sin.  Christian  imperfection,  and  a  death 
purgatory. 

Before  I  show  how  the  loving  apostle  is  pressed  into  a  service, 
which  is  so  contrary  to  his  experience  and  to  his  doctrine  of  perfect  love, 
I  shall  make  a  preliminary  remark.  To  take  a  passage  of  Scripture 
out  from  the  context,  and  to  make  it  speak  a  language  contrary  to  the 
obvious  design  of  the  sacred  writer,  is  the  way  to  butcher  the  body 
of  scriptural  divinity.  This  conduct  injures  truth,  as  much  as  the 
Galatians  would  have  injured  themselves,  if  they  had  literally  pulled 
their  eyes  out,  and  given  them  to  St.  Paul :  an  edifying  passage  thus 
displaced  may  become  as  loathsome  to  a  moral  mind,  as  a  good  eye 
torn  out  of  its  bleeding  orb  in  a  good  face,  is  odious  to  a  tender  heart. 

Among  the  passages  which  have  been  thus  treated,  none  has  sufler- 
ed  more  violence  than  this  :  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceivt 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  237 

ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us.  1  John  i.  8. — "  Thai's  enough 
for  me,"  says  a  hasty  imperfectionist  ;  "  St.  John  clearly  pleads  for 
the  indwelling  of  sin  in  us  during  the  term  of  life,  and  he  is  so  set 
against  those  who  profess  deliverance  from  sin,  and  Christian  perfec- 
tion in  this  life,  that  he  does  not  scruple  to  represent  them  as  liars 
and  self-deceivers.^' 

Our  opponents  suppose  that  this  argument  is  unanswerable.  But 
to  convince  them  that  they  are  mistaken,  we  need  only  prove,  that  the 
sense  which  they  so  confidently  give  to  the  words  of  St.  John  is  con- 
trary, 1.  To  his  design  ;  2.  To  the  context ;  and  3.  To  the  pure  and 
strict  doctrine  which  he  enforces  in  the  rest  of  the  epistle. 

I.  With  respect  to  St.  John's  desig7iy  it  evidently  was  to  confirm 
believers,  who  were  in  danger  of  being  deceived  by  .^ntinomian  and 
ami- Christian  seducers.  When  he  wrote  this  epistle  the  church 
began  to  be  corrupted  by  men,  who,  under  pretence  of  knowing 
the  mysteries  of  the  Gospel  better  than  the  apostles,  imposed  upon 
the  simple,  Jewish  fables,  heathenish  dreams,  or  vain,  philosophic 
speculations  ;  insinuating  that  their  doctrinal  peculiarities  were  the 
very  marrow  of  the  Gospel.  Many  such  arose  at  the  time  of  the 
Reformation,  who  introduced  stoical  dreams  into  Protestantism,  and 
whom  Bishop  Latimer  and  others  steadily  opposed  under  the  name 
of  Gospellers. 

The  doctrines  of  all  these  Gospellers  centred  in  making  Christ, 
indirectly  at  least,  the  minister  of  sin  :  and  in  representing  the  preach- 
ers of  practical  self-denying  Christianity,  as  persons  unacquainted 
with  Christian  liberty.  It  does  not  indeed  appear  that  the  Gnostics  or 
Knowing  Ones  [for  so  the  ancient  Gospellers  were  called]  carried  mat- 
ters so  far  as  openly  to  say,  that  believers  might  be  God's  dear  chil- 
dren in  the  very  commission  of  adultery  and  murder,  or  while  they 
worshipped  Milcom  and  Ashtaroth ;  but  it  is  certain  that  they  could 
already  reconcile  the  verbal  denial  of  Christ,  fornication  and  ido- 
latrous feu  sti7ig^  with  true  faith  ;  directly  or  indirectly  teaching  and 
seducing  Christ's  servants  to  commit  fornication^  and  to  eat  things  sacri- 
ficed to  idols.  Rev.  ii.  20.  At  these  Antinomians  St.  Peter,  St. 
James,  and  St.  Jude  levelled  their  epistles.  St.  Paul  strongly  cau- 
tioned Timothy,  Titus,  and  the  Ephesians  against  them.  (See  Eph. 
iv.  14 — v.  6.)  And  St.  John  wrote  his  first  epistle  to  warn  the 
believers  who  had  not  yet  been  seduced  into  their  error  :  a  dreadful, 
though  pleasing  error  this,  which  by  degrees,  led  some  to  deny  Christ's 
/aro,  and  then  his  very  name:  hence  the  triumph  of  the  spirit  of 
antichrist.  Now  as  these  men  inj^inuated  that  believers  might  be 
righteous  without  doing  righteousness;    and    as  they  supposed  thai 


238  THE    LAST    CHECK 

Chrisfs  righteousness^  or  our  own  kno'wledge  and  faith,  would  supply 
the  want  of  internal  sanctification  and  external  obedience  ;  St.  John 
maintains  against  them  the  necessity  of  that  practical  godliness,  which 
consists  in  not  committing  sin,  and  in  walking  as  Christ  walked :  nay, 
he  asserts  that  Christ's  blood,  through  the  faith  which  is  our  victory, 
purifies /rom  all  sin,  and  cleanses  from  all  nti  righteousness.  To  make 
him  therefore  plead  for  the  necessary  continuance  of  indwelling  sin, 
till  we  go  into  a  death  purgatory,  is  evidently  to  ihake  him  defeat  his 
own  design. 

II.  To  be  more  convinced  of  it,  we  need  only  read  the  controverted 
text  in  connexion  with  the  context ;  illustrating  both  bj  some  notes  in 
brackets. — St.  John  opens  his  commission  thus.  1st  Epistle,  chap.  i. 
5,  6,  7.  This  is  the  message  which  we  have  received  of  him  [Christ] 
and  declare  unto  you,  that  God  is  light  [bright,  transcendent  purity]  and 
in  him  is  no  darkness  [no  impurity]  at  all.  If  we  [believers]  say.  that 
we  have  fellowship  with  him  [that  we  are  united  to  him  by  an  actually 
living  faith]  and  walk  in  darkness  [in  impurity,  or  sin]  we  lie,  and  do 
not  the  truth.  But  if  we  walk  in  the  light,  as  he  is  in  the  linht,  [if  we 
live  up  to  our  Christian  light  and  do  righteousness,']  we  have  fellowship 
one  with  another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  clejnselh  us  from 
all  sill.  [ — For,  let  no  man  deceive  yo^i ;  he  that  does  righteousness  is 
righteous,  even  as  he,  Christ,  is  righteous ;  and  in  him.  is  no  sin,  1  John 
iii.  5,  7.]  So  far  we  see  no  plea,  either  for  sin,  or  for  the  Calvinian 
purgatory. 

Should  Mr.  Hill  reply,  that  ''  When  St.  John  says,  The  blood  of 
Christ  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin,  the  apostle  does  not  mean  all  indwell- 
ing sin;  because  this  is  a  sin  from  which  death  alone  can  cleanse  us  :" 
we  demand  a  proof,  and  in  the  mean  time  we  answer,  that  St,  John, 
in  the  above-quoted  passages,  says,  that  he  who  does  righteousness,  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  word,  is  righteous,  as  Christ  is  righteous ;  obser- 
ving, that  in  him  [Christ]  is  no  sin.  So  certain  then,  as  there  is  no 
indwelling  sin  in  Christ,  there  is  no  indwelling  sin  in  a  believer,  who 
does  righteousness  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word  ;  for  he  is  made  per- 
fect in  love,  and  is  cleansed  from  all  sin. — Nor  was  St.  John  himeelf 
ashamed  to  profess  this  glorious  liberty  :  for  he  said,  Our  love  is  made 
perfect,  that  we  may  have  boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment ;  because  as  he 
[Christ]  is  [perfect  in  love,  and  of  consequence  without  sin  :]  so  arc 
7ve  in  this  world,  1  John  iv.  17.  And  the  whole  context  shows,  that 
the  beloved  apostle  spake  these  great  words  of  a  likeness  to  Christ 
with  respect  to  the  perfect  love  which  fulfils  the  law,  abolishes  torment- 
ing fear,  and  enables  the  believer  to  stand  with  boldness  in  the  day  of 
judgment,  as  being  forgiven,  and  conformed  to  the  image  of  God''s  Son. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  23J> 

ii'  Mr.  Hill  urge,  that  **  The  blood  of  Christ,  powerfully  applied 
by  the  Spirit,  cleanses  us  indeed  from  the  guilt,  but  not  from  the 
filthiness  of  sin  :  blood  having  a  reference  to  justification  and  pardon^ 
but  not  to  sanctification  and  holiness ."  we  reply,  that  this  argument 
is  not  only  coritrary  to  the  preceding  answer,  but  to  the  text,  the  con- 
text, and  other  plain  scriptures. —  1.  To  the  text,  where  our  being 
cleansed  from  all  sin  is  evidently  suspended  on  our  humble  and  faithful 
walk  :  If  we  zealk  in  the  light  as  he  is  in  the  light,  the  blood  of  Christ 
cleanses  us,  &c.  Now  every  novice  in  Gospel  grace  knows,  that  true 
Protestants  do  not  suspend  a  sinner's  justification  on  his  walking  in  the 
light  as  God  is  in  the  light.— '2,  It  is  contrary  to  the  context:  for  in  the 
next  verse  but  one,  where  St.  John  evidently  distinguishes  forgive- 
ness and  holiness,  he  peculiarly  applies  the  word  cleansing  to  the  latter 
of  these  blessings.  He  is  faithfid  to  forgive  us  our  sin  [by  taking 
away  our  guilt:]  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness,  [by  taking 
away  all  the  filth  of  indwelling  sin.] — And  3.  It  is  contrary  to  other 
places  of  Scripture,  where  Chrisf  s  blood  is  represented  as  havin«-  a 
reference  to  purification,  as  well  as  to  forgiveness.  God  himself  says, 
*'  Wash  ye;  make  ijnu  clean;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings;  cease 
to  do  evil ;  learn  to  do  well.  The  washing  and  cleansing  here  spoken 
of,  have  undoubtedly  a  reference  to  the  removal  of  the  filth,  as  well 
as  of  the  guilt  of  sin.  Accordiu^ly  we  read,  that  all  those  who  stand 
before  the  throne  have  both  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  That  is,  they  are  justified  by,  and  sanctified 
with,  his  blood.  Hence  our  Church  prays,  "  that  we  may  so  eat  the 
flesh  of  Christ  and  drink  his  blood,  that  our  sinful  bodies  may  be  made 
clean  by  his  body,  and  our  souls  washed  [i.  e.  made  clean  also]  throutrh 
his  most  precious  blood.''^  To  rob  Christ's  blood  of  its  sanctifying 
power,  and  to  confine  its  efficacy  to  the  atonement,  is  therefore  an 
Antinomian  mistake,  by  which  our  opponents  greatly  injure  the  Sa- 
viour, whom  they  pretend  to  exalt. 

Should  Mr.  Hill  assert,  that  "  When  St.  John  says,  If  we  walk  in 
the  light,  4*c.  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanses  us  from  all  sin,  the  loving 
apostle's  meaning  is  not,  that  the  blood  of  Christ  radically  cleanses 
us,  but  only  that  it  begets  and  carries  on  a  cleansing  from  all  sin,  which 
cleansing  will  be  completed  in  a  death  purgatory  :"  we  answer  :  1. 
This  assertion  leaves  Mr.  HiWs  doctrine  open  to  all  the  above-men- 
tioned dithculties. — 2.  It  overthrows  the  doctrine  of  the  Protestants, 
who  have  always  maintained  that  nothing  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
eternal  salvation,  and  of  consequence  to  our  perfect  cleansing,  but  an 
©bedient,  steadfast  faith,  appreiiending  the  full  virtue  of  Christ's 
purifying  blood,  according  to  Acts  xv.   9.  God  giving  tketn  the  Holy 


240  TH]£   LAST    CHECK 

Ghost^  put  no  difference  between  them  and  us,  purifying  their  hearts  hy 
faith  :-^noi  by  death.— 3.  It  is  contrary  to  matter  of  fact :  Enoch  and 
Elijah,  having  been  translated  to  heaven,  and  therefore  having  been 
perfectly  purified,  even  in  body,  without  going  into  the  Calvinian 
purgatory. — But  4.  What  displeases  us  most  in  the  evasive  argument 
which  I  answer  is,  that  it  puts  the  greatest  contempt  on  Christ's 
blood,  and  puts  the  greatest  cheat  on  weak  believers,  who  sincerely 
wait  to  be  now  vnade  perfect  in  love,  that  they  may  worthily  magnify 
God's  holy  name. 

An  illustration  will  prove  it.  I  suppose  that  Christ  is  now  in  Eng- 
land, doing  as  many  wonderful  cures  as  he  formerly  did  in  Judea. 
My  benevolent  opponent  runs  to  the  Salop  Infirmary,  and  tells  all  the 
patients  there  that  the  great  Physician,  the  Son  of  God,  has  once  more 
visited  the  earth  ;  and  he  again  heals  all  manner  of  sickness  and  diseases 
among  the  people,  and  cleanses  from  the  most  inveterate  leprosy  by  a 
touch  or  a  word.  All  the  patients  believe  Mr.  Hill ;  some  hop  to 
this  wonderful  Saviour,  and  others  five  carried  to  his  footstool.  They 
touch  and  retouch  him :  he  strokes  them  round  again  and  again  :  but 
not  one  of  them  is  cured.  The  wounds  of  some,  indeed,  are  skinned 
over  for  a  time  ;  but  it  soon  appears  that  they  still  fester  at  the 
bottom,  and  that  a  painful  core  remains  unextracted  in  every  sore. 
The  poor  creatures  complain  to  Mr.  Hill,  "  Did  you  not.  Sir,  assure 
us  upon  your  honour,  as  a  Christian  gentleman,  that  Christ  heals 
all  manner  of  diseases,  and  cleanses  from  all  kinds  of  leprosies  ?" — 
True,  says  Mr.  Hill ;  but  you  must  know,  that  these  words  do  not 
mean  that  he  radically  cures  any  disease,  or  cleanses  from  any  leprosy  ; 
they  only  signify  that  he  begins  to  cure  every  disease,  and  continues 
to  cleanse  from  all  leprosies  ;  but  notwithstanding  all  his  cures,  begun 
and  continued,  nobody  is  cured  before  death.  So,  my  friends,  you 
must  bear  your  festering  sores  as  well  as  you  can,  till  death  comes 
radically  to  cleanse  and  cure  you  from  them  all.  Instead  of  crying 
"■  Sweet  grace  '.  —  rich  grace  I"  and  of  clapping  Mr.  Hill  for  his  evan- 
gelical message,  the  disappointed  patients  desire  him  to  lake  them 
back  to  the  Infirmary,  saying,  we  have  there  a  chance  for  a  cure 
before  death  :  but  your  great  Physician  pronounces  us  incurable, 
unless  death  comes  to  the  help  of  his  art ;  and  we  think  that  any 
surgeon  could  do  as  much,  if  he  did  not  do  more.  [See  Sect.  XII 
Arg.  20.] 

If  Mr.  Hill  say  that  I  beat  the  air,  and  that  the  text  which  he 
quotes  in  his  "  Creed  for  Perfectionists,"  to  show  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  be  cleansed  from  all  sin  before  death,  is  not  1  John  i.  7.  but 
the  next  v^rse  ;  I  reply,  that  if  St.  John  assert  in  the  7th  verse,  that 


TO    ANTINOMIANISRI.  241 

Chrisfs  blood,  powerfully  applied  by  the  spirit  of  faith,  cleanses  us 
from  all  sin,  that  inspired  writer  cannot  be  so  exceedingly  inconsistent 
as  to  contradict  himself  in  the  very  next  verse. 

Should  the  reader  ask,  *'  What  then  can  be  St.  John's  meaning  in 
that  verse,  where  he  declares,  that  If  rve  say  we  have  no  sin,  we 
deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us?  How  can  these  words 
possibly  agree  with  the  doctrine  of  a  perfect  cleansing  from  all  sin  ?" 

We  answer,  that  St.  John  having  given  his  first  stroke  to  the  Anti- 
nomian  believers  of  this  day,  strikes  by  the  bye  a  blow  at  Pharisaic 
professors.  There  were  in  St,  John's  time,  as  there  are  in  our  own, 
numbers  of  men  who  had  never  been  properly  convinced  of  sin,  and 
who  boasted,  as  Paul  once  did,  that  touching  the  righteousness  of  the 
law,  they  were  blameless :  they  served  God — they  did  their  duty — they 
gave  alms — they  never  did  any  body  any  harm — they  thanked  God 
that  they  were  not  as  other  men  ;  but  especially  that  they  were  not 
like  those  mourners  in  Sion,  who  were  no  doubt  very  wicked,  since 
they  made  so  much  ado  about  God's  mercy,  and  a  powerful  applica- 
tion of  the  Redeemer's  all-cleansing  blood.  How  proper  then  was  it 
for  St.  John  to  inform  his  readers,  that  these  tsvhole-hearted  Christians, 
these  perfect  Pharisees,  were  no  better  than  liars  and  self  deceivers ; 
and  that  true  Christian  righteousness  is  always  attended  by  a  genuine 
conviction  of  our  native  depravity,  and  by  an  humble  acknowledg- 
ment of  our  actual  transgressions. 

This  being  premised  ;  it  appears  that  the  text  so  dear  to  us,  and  so 
mistaken  by  our  opponents,  has  this  fair,  scriptural  meaning  :  "  If  we 
[followers  of  him  who  came  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to 
repentance]  say  we  have  no  sin  [no  native  depravity  from  our  first 
parents,  and  no  actual  sin,  at  least  no  such  sin  as  deserves  God's 
wrath  ;  fancying  we  need  not  secure  a  particular  application  of 
Christ's  atoning  and  purifying  blood]  we  deceive  ourselves^  and  the  truth 
[of  repentance  and  faith]  is  not  in  ws." 

That  these  words  are  levelled  at  the  monstrous  error  of  self-con- 
ceited and  self- perfected  Pharisees,  and  not  at  the  glorious  liberty  of 
the  children  of  God,  appears  to  us  indubitable  from  the  following  rea- 
sons : 1.  The  immediately  preceding  verse  strongly  asserts  this 

liberty. — 2.  The  verse  immediately  following  secures  it  also,  and 
cuts  down  the  doctrine  of  our  opponents  ;  the  apostle's  meaning  being 
e\^dently  this; — *' Though  I  write  to  you,  that?/  we  say,  we  are 
originally  free  from  sin,  and  never  did  any  harm,  we  deceive  ourselves  : 
yet,  mistake  me  not ;  I  do  not  mean  that  we  need  continue  under  the 
guilt,  or  in  the  moral  infection  of  any  sin,  original  or  actual  :  for  it 
we  penitently  and  believingly  confess  both,  he  is  faithful  and  ;V?^  ^.. 

Vol.  IV.  -St 


2'42  THE  LAST  CHECK 

forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness,  whether  it 
be  native  or  self-contracted,  internal  or  external.  Therefore  if  we 
have  attained  the  glorious  liberty  -of  God's  children,  we  need  not, 
through  voluntary  humility,  say  that  we  do  nothing  but  sin.  It  will 
be  sufficient,  when  we  are  cleansed  from  all  unrighteousness^  still  to  be 
deeply  humbled  for  our  present  infirmities,  and  for  our  past  sins ; 
confessing  both  with  godly  sorrow  and  filial  shame.  For  if  we  should 
say,  we  have  not  sinned,^'  [note,  St.  John  does  not  write,  If  we  should 
say,  we  do  not  sin,]  "  we  make  him  a  liar,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us; 
common  sense  dictating,  that  if  zve  have  not  sinned^  we  speak  an 
untruth,  when  we  profess  that  Christ  has  forgiven  our  sins."  This 
appears  to  us  the  true  meaning  of  1  John  i.  8.  when  it  is  fairly  consi- 
dered in  the  light  of  the  context. 

III.  We  humbly  hope,  that  Mr.  Hill  himself  will  be  of  our  senti- 
ment, if  he  compare  the  verse  in  debate,  with  the  pure  and  strict  doc- 
trine which  St.  John  enforces  throughout  his  epistle.  In  the  second 
chapter  he  says,  We  know  that  we  know  him,  if  we  keep  his  command- 
ments, ^c.  Whoso  KEEPETH  HIS  WORD,  in  him  verily  is  the  love  of  God 
PERFECTED.  He  that  abideth  in  him  ought  himself  also  so  to  walk, 
EVEN  AS  HE  WALKED,  &c.  He  that  loveth  his  brother  abideth  in  the  light, 
[where  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin]  and  there  is  none 
occasion  of  stumbling  in  him. 

The  same  doctrine  runs  also  through  the  next  chapter.  Every  one 
that  hath  this  hope  in  him,  purifieth  himself  as  he  [Christ]  is  pure. 
Whosoever  committeth  sin,  transgresseth  also  the  law,  ^c.  and  ye 
know,  that  he  was  manifested  to  take  away  our  sins,  [i.  e.  to  destroy  them 
root  and  branch  :]  and  in  him  is  no  sin.  WJiosoever  abideth  in  him 
sinneth  not  :  whosoever  sinneth,  does  not  [properly]  see  him,  neither 
know  him  :  he  that  does  righteousness  is  righteous,  even  as  he  [Christ] 
is  righteous.  He  that  committeth  sin,  [i.  e.  as  appears  by  the  context, 
he  that  transgr&sseth  the  law,]  is  of  the  devil :  for  the  devil  sinneth  from 
the  beginning :  for  this  purpose  was  the  Son  of  God  manifested,  that  he 
might  destroy  the  zvorks  of  the  devil.  Whosoever  is  born  of  God  [Who- 
soever is  made  a  partaker  of  God's  holiness,  according  to  the  per- 
fection of  the  Christian  dispensation]  doth  not  commit  sin,  i.  e.  does 
not  transgress  the  law  ;  for  his  seed,  the  ingrafted  word,  made  quick 
and  powerful  by  the  indwelling  Spirit,  remaineih  in  him,  and  [morally 
speaking]  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is  [thus]  born  of  God. — For  if  ye 
know  that  he  is  righteous,  ye  know  that  every  one  that  doth  righteousness 
is  born  of  him,  and  he  that  doth  not  righteousness, — he  that  committeth 
sin,  or  transgresseth  the  law,  is  so  far  of  the  devil,  for  the  devil  trans- 
gr,esseth  the  laws,  i.  e.  sinneth  from  the  beginning. — In  this  the  children 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  243 

of  God  are  manifest^  and  the  children  of  the  devil.^  Whosoever  does 
not  righteousness,  i.  e.  whosoever  sinneth,  taking  the  word  in  its  evan- 
gelical meaning,  is  not  of  God,   1  John  iii.  3 — 11.    ii.  29. 

If  Mr.  Hill  cry  out  ^^  Shocking !  Who  are  those  men  that  do  not 
sin  ?"  I  reply,  All  those  whom  St.  John  speaks  of  a  few  verses  below, 
Beloved,  if  our  heart  condemn  us ;  [and  it  will  condemn  us  if  we  sin, 
but  God  much  more,  for  God  is  greater  than  our  hearts,  4"c.]  Beloved, 
if  our  hearts  condemn  us  not,  we  have  confidence  towards  God,  ^c. 
becduse  we  keep  his  commandments,  and  do  those  things  that  are 
PLEASING  IN  HIS  SIGHT,  1  John  ill.  20,  &c. — Now  we  apprehend  all 
the  sophistryln  the  world  will  never  prove  that,  evangelically  speak- 
ing, keeping  God*s  commandments,  and  doing  what  pleases  him,  is  sin- 
ning. 'J'herefore,  when  St.  John  professed  to  keep  God^s  command- 
ments, and  to  do  what  is  pleasing  in'  his  sight,  he  professed  what 
our  opponents  call  si7iless  perfection,  and  what  we  call  Christian  per- 
fection. 

Mr.  Hill  is  so  very  unhappy  in  his  choice  of  St.  John,  to  close  the 
Dumber  of  his  apostolic  witnesses  for  Christian  imperfection,  that 
were  it  not  for  a  few  clauses  of  his  first  tpistle,  the  anti  solifidian 
severity  of  that  apostle  might  drive  all  imperfect  Christians  to  despair. 
And  what  is  most  remarkable,  those  few  encouraging  clauses  are  all 
conditional ;  If  any  man  sin,  for  there  is  no  necessity  that  he  should  ; 
or  rather,  [according  to  the  most  literal  sense  of  the  word  ufAuprvi, 
which  being  in  the  aorist,  has  generally  the  force  of  a  past  tense]  If 
any  man  have  sinned  : — If  he  have  not  sinned  unto  death  :  if  we  confess 
our  sins : — if  that  which  ye  have  heard  shall  remain  in  you  :  if  ye  walk  in 
the  light: — then  do  we  evangelically  enjoy  the  benefit  of  our  Advo- 
cate's intercession.  Add  to  this,  that  the  first  of  those  clauses  is 
prefaced  by  these  words.  My  little  children,  these  things  I  write  unto 
you,  THAT  YE  SIN  NOT  ;  and  all  together  are  guarded  by  these  dreatJful 
declarations  :  He  that  says,  I  know  him,  and  keepeth  not  his  command- 
ments, is  a  liar. — If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is 
not  in  him. — If  any  man  say  I  love  God — and  loveth  not  his  brother, 
[note,  he  that  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the  law]  he  is  a  liar.  There 
is  a  sin  unto  death,  I  do  not  say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it.  Let  no  man 
deceive  you,  he  that  does  righteousness  is  righteous. — He  that  committeth 
sin  [or  transgresseth  the  law]  is  of  the  devil.  To  represent  St.  John, 
therefore,  as  an  enemy  to  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection,  does 

*  This  doctrine  of  St.  John  ig  perfectly  agreeable  (o  that  of  our  Lord,  who  said  (hat 
Judas  had  a  devil,  because  he  gave  place  to  the  love  of  money  ;  and  who  called  Peter  bifii 
icU  Safan,  when  he  savoured  the  things  of  men,  in  op[jositi(>ii  to  tkt^  things  »f  God. 


^44  THE    LAST   CHECR 

not  appear  to  us  less  absurd,  than  to  represent  Satan  as  a  friend  to 
complete  holiness. 


SECTION  XI. 


Why  the  Privileges  of  Believers  under  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  cannot  he 
justly  measured  by  the  experience  of  Believers  under  the  law  of  Mosc5 
Jl  Review  of  the  Passages,  upon  which  the  enemies  of  Christian  Per- 
fection found  their  hopes,  that  Solomon,  Isaiah,  and  Joh^  were  strong 
hnperfeciionisis. 

If  Mr.  Hill  had  quoted  Solomon,  instead  of  St.  John;  and  Jewish: 
instead  of  Christian  saints  ;  he  might  have  attacked  the  glorious 
Christian  hberty  of  God's  children  with  more  success  :  for  the  heir,  as 
he  is- a  child  [in  Jewish  non-age]  differeth  nothing  from  a  servant :  but 
is  under  tutors  [and  schoolmasters]  until  the  time  appointed  by  the 
Father.  Even  so  we,  when  we  were  children,  were  in  bondage  : — but 
when  the  fulness  of  the  time  was  come,  God  sent  his  Son,  made  of  a 
woman,  made  under  the  law,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons, 
—and  stand  in  the  [peculiar]  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us 
[Christians] /ree,  Gal.  iii.  1. — iv.  1.  But  this  very  passage,  which 
shows  that  Jews  are,  comparatively  speaking,  in  bondage,  shows 
also  that  the  Christian  dispensation,  and  its  high  privileges  cannot  be 
measured  by  the  inferior  privileges  of  the  Jewish  dispensation, 
under  which  Solomon  lived  :  for  the  law  made  nothing  perfect  in  the 
Christian  sense  of  the  word  ;  and  what  the  law  could  not  do,  God 
sending  his  only  Son  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh,  that  the  righteousness 
of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us  [Christian  believers]  who  walk  after 
the  Spirit :  being  endned  with  that  large  measure  of  it,  which  began 
to  be  poured  out  on  believers  on  the  day  of  pentecost ;  for  that  mea- 
sure of  the  Spirit  was  not  given  before,  because  Jesus  was  not  yet 
glorified.  John  vii.  39.  But  after  he  had  ascended  on  high,  and  had 
obtained  the  gift  of  the  indwelling  Comforter  for  believers,  they 
received,  says  St.  Peter,  the  end  of  their  faith,  even  the  Chris- 
tian salvation  of  their  souls ;  a  salvation  this,  which  St.  Paul  just- 
ly calls  so  great  salvation,  when  he  compares  it  with  Jewish  pri- 
vileges, Heb.  ii.  3.  Of  which  [Christian]  salvation,  proceeds  St. 
Peter,  the  prophets  have  inquired,  who  prophesied  of  the  grace  that 
sitould  come  unto  i/OM  [Christians]  searching  what  or  what  manner  of 
lime  the  Spirit  of  Christ  wh ich  was  in  them  [according  to  their  dispensa- 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  24^' 

lion]  did  signify  lahen  it  testified  beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christy  and 
the  glory  [ihe  glorious  dispensation]  that  should  follo-jc  [his  return  to 
heaven,  and  accompany  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit.]  Unto  whom 
}  the  Jewish  propliets]  it  zvas  revealed  that  not  unto  themselves,  but  unto 
us  [Christians]  they  did  minister  the  things  which  are  now  preached  unto 
you,  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven.  1  Pet.  i.  9,  &c.  And, 
among  those  things,  the  Scriptures  reckon  the  coming  of  the  spiritual 
kingdom  of  Christ  wilh  power  into  the  hearts  of  behevers,  and  the 
baptism  of  fire,  or  the  perfect  love,  which  bvr7is  vp  the  chaff'  of  sin, 
thoroughly  purges  God's  floor,  and  makes  the  hearts  of  perfect  believ- 
ers a  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit,  and  not  a  nest  for  indwelling 
sin. 

As  this  doctrine  may  appear  new  to  Mr.  Hill,  I  beg  leave  to  confirm 
it  by  the  testimony  of  two  as  eminent  Divines  as  England  has  lately 
produced.  The  one  is  Mr.  Baxter,  who,  in  his  comment  upon  these 
words,  A  testament  is  of  force  after  men  are  dead,  &.c.  Heb.  ix.  17.  very 
justly  observes,  that  "  His  [Christ's]  covenant  has  the  nature  of  a 
testament,  which  supposeth  the  death  of  the  testator,  and  is  not  of 
efficacy  till  then,  to  give  full  right  of  what  he  bequeathed.  Note,  that 
the  eminent,  evangelical  kingdom  of  the  Mediator,  in  its  last,  full 
edition,  called  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  of  heaven,  distinct  from 
the  obscure  state  of  promise  before  Christ's  incarnation  began  at 
Christ's  resurrection,  ascension,  and  sending  of  the  eminent  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  was  but  as  an  embryo  before." — My 
other  witness  is  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield,  who  proposes  and  answers 
the  following  question  :  "  Why  was  not  the  Holy  Ghost  given  till 
Jesus  Christ  was  glorilied  ? — Because  till  then  he  was  himself  on 
the  earth,  and  had  not  taken  on  him  the  kingly  office,  nor  pleaded 
the  merits  of  his  death  before  his  heavenly  Father,  by  which  he 
purchased  that  invaluable  blessing  for  us." — See  his  Works,  Vol. 
IV.  p.  362.  Hence  I  conclude,  that,  as  the  full  measure  of  the 
Spirit  which  perfects  Christian  believers,  was  not  given  before  our 
Lord's  ascension,  it  is  as  absurd  to  judge  of  Christian  perfection  by 
the  experiences  of  those  who  died  before  that  remarkable  event,  a? 
to  measure  the  powers  of  a  sucking  child  by  those  of  an  embryo. 

This  might  suffice  to  unnerve  all  the  arguments  which  our  oppo- 
nents produce  from  the  Old  Testament  against  Christian  perfection. 
However,  we  are  willing  to  consider  a  moment  those  passages  by 
which  they  plead  for  the  necessary  indwelling  of  sin  in  all  Christian 
believers,  and  defend  the  walls  of  the  Jericho  within,  that  accursed 
city  of  refuge  for  spiritual  CMnaanitcs  and  Diaholonian?. 


246  THE   LAST   OilECK 

I.  1  Kings  viii.  40,  &c.  Solomon  prays  and  says,  If  ihey  [the  Jews] 
sin  against  thee,  (for  there  is  no  man*  that  sinneth  not)  and  thou  be 
angry  with  them  and  deliver  them  to  the  enemy,  so  that  they  carry  them 
away  captive, — yet,  if  they  bethink  themselves,  and  repent,  and  make  sup- 
plication unto  thee,  and  return  unto  thee  with  all  their  heart,  and  with  all 
their  soul — thenhear  thou  their  prayer.  No  unprejudiced  person,  who 
in  reading  this  passage  takes  the  parenthesis  (*'  for  there  is  no  man 
that  sinneth  not")  in  the  connexion  with  the  context,  can,  I  think, 
help  seeing  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Toplady,  who,  if  I  remember  right, 
quotes  this  text  against  us,  mistakes  Solomon,  as  much  as  Mr.  Hill  does 
St.  John.  The  meaning  is  evidently,  there  is  no  man  who  is  not  liable 
to  sin;  and  that  a  man  actually  sins,  when  he  actually  departs  from 
God.  Now  peccability,  or  a  liableness  to  sin,  is  not  indwelling  sin  ;  for 
angels,  Adam,  and  Eve,  were  all  liable  to  sin  ia  their  sinless  state. 
And  that  there  are  some  men  who  do  not  actually  sin,  is  indubitable  : 
1.  From  the  hypothetical  phrase  in  the  context,  if  any  man  sin, 
which  shows  that  their  sinning  is  not  unavoidable  : — 2.  From  God's 
anger  against  those  that  sin,  which  is  immediately  mentioned.  Hence 
it  appears,  that  so  certain  as  God  is  not  angry  with  all  his  people, 
some  of  them  do  not  sin  in  the  sense  of  the  wise  man  : — ^nd  3.  from 
Solomon's  intimating,  that  these  very  men  who  have  sinned,  or  have 
actually  departed  from  God,  may  bethink  themselves,  repent,  and  turn  to 
God  with  all  their  heart,  and  with  all  their  soul,  that  is,  may  attain  the 
perfection  of  their  dispensation  ;  the  two  poles  not  being  more  opposed 
to  each  other  than  sinning  is  to  repenting ;  and  departing  from  God  to 
returning  to  him  with  all  our  heart  and  with  all  our  soul.  Take  there- 
fore the  whole  passage  together,  and  you  have  a  demonstration  that 
where  sin  hath  abounded,  there  grace  may  much  more  abound.  And 
what  is  this,  but  a  demonstration  that  our  doctrine  is  not  chimerical  ? 
For  if  Jeii's,  [Solomon  himself  being  judge]  instead  of  sinning  and 
departing  from  God,  can  repent,  and  turn  to  him  with  all  their  heart  ; 
how  much  more  Christians,  whose  privileges  are  so  much  greater  I 

II.  "  But  So/omon  says  also,  There  is  not  a  just  man  upon  earth, 
that  does  good  and  sinneth  not.  Eccles.  vii.  20." 

1.  We  are  not  sure  that  »So/omon  says  it ;  for  he  may  introduce 
here  the  very  same  man  who,  four  verses  before,  says,  Be  notrighte- 

*  If  Mr.  Hill  consult  tlie  Orio-inal,  lie  will  iind  that  the  word  translated  sinneth,  is  in  the 
future  tetise,  which  is  often  used  for  an  indefinite  tense  ia  the  potential  mood,  because  the 
Hebrews  have  no  such  mood  or  tense. — Therefore  our  translators  would  only  have  done 
justice  to  the  original,  as  well  as  to  the  context,  if  they  had  rendered  the  whole  clause, 
There  is  no  man  that  may  not  sin ;  instead  of  Tucrc  is  no  man  that  sinneth  not. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM,  247 

ous  overmuch^  &c.  and  Mr.  Toplady  may  mistake  the  interlocutor's 
meaning  in  one  text,  as  Dr.  Trap  has  done  in  the  other. — But  2. 
Supposing  Solomon  speaks,  may  not  he  in  general  assert,  what  St. 
Paul  does,  Rom.  iii.  23.  All  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God,  the  just  not  excepted  ?  Is  not  this  the  very  sense  which  Canne, 
Calvinist  as  he  was,  gives  to  the  wise  man's  words,  when  he  refers 
the  reader  to  this  assertion  of  the  apostle  ?  And  did  we  ever  speak 
against  this  true  doctrine  ? — 3.  If  you  take  the  original  word  lo  sin, 
in  the  lowest  sense  which  it  bears  : — If  it  mean  in  Eccles.  vii.  20. 
what  it  does  in  Judg.  xx.  16.  namely,  to  miss  a  mark,  we  sh;dl  not  differ  ; 
for  we  maintain  that,  according  to  the  standard  of  paradisiacal  perfec- 
tion, There  is  not  a  just  man  upon  earth,  that  does  good,  and  misses  not 
the  mark  of  that  perfection,  i.  e.  that  does  not  lessen  the  good  he 
does,  by  some  involuntary,  and  therefore  (evangelically  speaking) 
sinless  defect. — 4.  It  is  bold  to  pretend  to  overthrow  the  glorious 
liberty  of  God's  children,  which  is  asserted  in  a  hundred  plain  passa- 
ges of  the  New  Testament,  by  producing  so  vague  a  text  as  Eccl.  vii. 
20.  And  to  measure  the  spiritual  attainments  of  all  believers,  in  all 
ages,  by  this  obscure  standard,  appears  to  us  as  ridiculous  as  to  affirm 
that  of  a  thousand  believing  men,  999  are  indubitably  villains  ;  and 
that  out  of  a  thousand  Christian  women,  there  is  not  one  but  is  a  strum- 
pet ;  because  Solomon  says  a  few  lines  below,  One  man  among  a  thou- 
sand have  I  found ;  but  a  woman  among  all  those  have  I  not  found, 
Eccles.  vii.  28. 

III.  If  it  be  objected,  that  *'  Solomon  asks.  Who  can  say,  I  have 
mcSk  my  heart  clean,  I  am  pure  from  my  sin?  Prov.  xx.  9  :"  We 
answer : 

1.  Does  not  Soloinon^s  father  ask,  IVho  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill? 
Does  a  question  of  that  nature  always  imply  an  absurdity  or  an 
impossibility  ?  Might  not  Solomon's  query  be  evangelically  answered 
thus  ?  "  The  man  in  whom  thy  father  David's  prayer  is  answered, 
Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  0  God: — The  man  who  has  regarded  St. 
James's  direction  to  the  primitive  Solifidians,  Cleanse  your  hearts,  ye 
double-minded: — The  man  who  has  obeyed  God's  awful  command,  O 
Jerusalem,  wash  thy  heart  from  iniquity,  that  thou  mayest  be  saved. — Or 
the  man  who  is  interested  in  the  sixth  beatitude.  Blessed  are  the  pure 
in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God : — That  man,  I  say,  can  testify  to  the 
honour  of  the  blood  which  cleanseth  from  all  sin,  thai  he  has  made  his 
heart  clean.' ^ 

2.  However,  if  Solomon,  as  is  most  probable,  reproves  in  this  pas- 
sage the  conceit  of  a  perfect,  boasting  Pharisee,  the  answer  is  obvi- 
ous :  no  man  of  that  stamp  can  say  with  any  truth,  /  have  made  my 


248  THE   LAST    CHECK 

heart  clean;  for  the  law  of  faith  excludes  all  proud  boasting,  and  if 
we  say,  with  the  temper  of  the  Pharisee,  that  we  have  no  sin,  we 
deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us;  for  we  have  pride,  an(^ 
Pharisaic  pride  too,  which,  in  the  sight  of  God,  is  perhaps  the  greatest 
of  all  sins. — If  our  opponents  take  the  wise  man's  question  in  either 
of  the  preceding  scriptural  senses,  they  will  find  that  it  perfectly 
agrees  with  the  doctrine  of  Jewish  and  Christian  perfection. 

IV.  Solomon's  pretended  testimony  against  Christian  perfection  is 
frequently  backed  by  two  of  Isaiah^ s  sayings,  considered  apart  from  the 
context,  one  of  which  respects  the  Jllthiness  of  our  righteousness ;  and 
the  other,  the  uncleanness  of  our  lips.  I  have  already  proved  [VoK 
I.  Check  IV.  Let,  viii.]  that  the  righteousness  which  Isaiah  com- 
pares to  Jilthy  rags^  and  St.  Paul  to  du7ig^  is  only  the  anti-evangelical, 
Pharisaic  righteousness  of  unhumbled  professors ;  a  righteousness 
this,  which  may  be  called  the  righteousness  of  impenitent  pride, 
rather  than  the  righteousness  of  humble  faith  ;  therefore  the  excel- 
lenceof  the  righteousness  of  faith,  cannot,  with  any  propriety,  be  struck 
at  by  that  passage. 

V.  <'  But  Isaiahf  undoubtedly  speaking  of  himself,  says.  Wo  is  me, 
for  I  am  undone^  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  Zips."     Isaiah  vi.  5. 

True  :  but  give  yourself  the  trouble  to  read  the  two  following 
verses,  and  you  will  hear  him  declare  that  the  power  of  God's  Spirit 
applying  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  (which  power  was  represented  by  a 
live  coal  taken  from  off'  the  altar)  touched  his  lips;  so  that  his  iniquity 
•was  taken  away,  and  his  sin  purged.  This  passage,  therefore,  when  it 
is  considered  with  the  context,  instead  of  disproving  the  doctrin%  of 
Christian  perfection,  strongly  proves  the  doctrine  of  Jewish  per- 
fection. 

If  Isaiah  is  discharged  from  the  service  into  which  he  is  so 
unwarrantably  pressed,  our  opponents  will  bring  Job,  whom  the  Lord 
himself  pronounces  joer/eci— according  to  his  dispensation  ;  notwith- 
standing the  hard  thoughts  which  his  friends  entertained  of  him. 

VI.  Perfect  Job  is  absurdly  set  upon  demolishing  Christian  per- 
fection, because  he  says.  If  I  justify  myself  mine  own  moutK  shall  con- 
demn me  ;  If  I  say  (in  a  self-justifying  spirit)  /  am  perfect,  it  shall  also 
prove  me  perverse,  Job  ix.  20. — But  1.  What  does  Job  assert  here, 
more  than  Solomon  does  in  the  word  to  which  Canne  on  this  text 
judiciously  refers  his  readers.  Let  another  man  praise  thee,  and  not 
thine  own  mouth ;  a  stranger  and  not  thine  own  lips.  Though  even 
this  rule  is  not  without  exception ;  witness  the  circumstance  which 
drove  St.  Paul  to  what  he  calls  a  confidence  of  boasting. — 2.  That 
professing  the  perfection  of  our  dispensation  in  a  self-abasing  an<i 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  24i< 

Christ-exalting  spirit,  is  not  a  proof  of  perversencss,  is  evitlent  from 
the  profession  which  humble  Paul  malle  of  his  being  one  of  the  per- 
fect Christians  of  his  time,  Phil.  iii.  15.  and  from  St.  John's  declara- 
tion, that  his  love  zvas  made  perfect,  John  iv.  17.  For  when  ne  have 
the  witnessing  Spirit,  znhereLy  n  e  know  the  things  which  are  freely  given 
to  us  of  God,  -we  may,  nay,  at  proper  times,  we  should,  acknowledge 
his  gifts,  to  his  glory,  though  not  to  our  own. — 3.  If  God  himself 
had  pronounced  Job  perfect,  according  to  his  dispensation,  Job's  modest 
fear  of  pronouncing  himself  so,  does  not  at  all  overthrow  the  divine 
testimony  ;  such  a  timorousness  only  shows,  that  the  more  we  arc 
advanced  in  grace,  the  more  we  are  averse  to  whatever  has  the 
appearance  of  ostentation  :  and  the  more  deeply  we  feel  what  Job 
felt,  when  he  said.  Behold,  I  am  vile  ;  what  shall  I  answer  thee  ?  I  will 
put  my  hand  upon  my  mouth.  Job  xl.  4. 

VII.  "  But  Job  himself,  far  from  mentioning  his  perfection,  says, 
JVow  mine  eye  seeth  thee,  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  aiid  ashes,  Job 
xlii.  6." — And  does  this  disprove  our  doctrine  ?  Do  we  not  assert 
that  our  perfection  admits  of  a  continual  growth  :  and  that  perfect 
repentance  and  perfect  humility,  are  essential  parts  of  it  ?  These 
words  of  Job,  therefore,  far  from  overthrowing  our  doctrine,  prove 
that  the  patient  man's  perfection  grew ;  and  that  from  the  top  of  the 
perfection  of  Gentilism,  he  saw  the  day  of  Christian  perfection,  and 
had  a  taste  of  what  Mr.  Wesley  prays  for,  when  he  sings, 

O  let  me  gain  perfection'' s  height, 

0  let  me  into  nothing  fall,  &.c. 

Confound,  o'erpower  me  with  thy  grace  : 

1  would  be  bv  myself  abhorr'd ; 
All  might,  all  majesty,  all  praise, 

All  glor}'  be  to  Christ  my  Lord  ! 

VIII.  With  respect  to  the  words.  The  stars  are  not  pure — tht 
heavens  are  not  clean  in  his  sight : — his  angels  he  charged  with  folly, 
Job  XV.  15. — iv.  18.  we  must  consider  them  as  a  proof  that  absolute 
perfection  belongs  to>God  alone  ;  a  truth  this,  which  we  inculcate  as 
well  as  our  opponents.  Besides,  if  sucli  passages  overthrow  the 
doctrine  of  perfection,  they  would  principall}'  overthrow  the  doc- 
trine of  angelical  perfection,  which  Mr.  Hill  holds  as  well  as  we. 
To  conclude  : 

IX.  When  Job  asks.  What  is  man,  that  he  should  be  clean  ?  How  can 
he  be  clean  that  is  born  of  a  woman? — Hlio  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out 
of  an  unclean  ?  And  when  he  answers,  Not  one  ;  he  means  not  one 
who  falls  short  of  infinite  power.     If  he  excluded  Emmnnncl  GO0 

Vol.  IV.  32 


250  THE  LAST  CHECK 

mth  us,  I  would  directly  point  at  him  who  said,  /  wilh  he  thou  clean; 
and  at  the  believers  who  declare,  We  can  do  all  things  through  Christ 
ihat  strengthened  us,  and  accordingly  cleanse  themselves  from  allJUthi" 
ness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  that  they  may  be  found  of  him  'without  spot 
and  blameless.  Yea,  1  would  point  at  the  poor  leper,  who  has  faith 
enough  to  say,  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean.  They 
tell  me  that  my  leprosy  must  cleave  to  me  till  death  hatter  down  this 
lenement  of  clay ;  but  faith  speaks  a  different  language*,  only  say  the 
word.  Be  thou  clean,  and  1  shall  be  cleansed  -.—Purge  me  with  hysiop^ 
Sprinkle  clean  water  upon  me,  and  I  shall  be  clean  from  all  my  filthi- 
ness.''' 

U  these  remarks  be  just,  does  it  not  appear,  that  it  is  as  absurd  to 
stab  Christian  perfection  through  the  sides  of  Job,  Isaiah,  and  Solo- 
mon, as  to  set  Peter,  Paul,  James,  and  John,  upon  "  cutting  it  up  root 
and  branch?^* 

SECTION  XII. 

Containing  a  variety  of  Arguments,  to  prove  the  Absurdity  of  the  iwirs 
Doctrines  of  Christian  Imperfection  and  a  Death  Purgatory. 

I  HAVE  hitherto  stood  chiefly  upon  the  defensive,  by  showing  that 
Mr.  Hill  has  no  ground  for  insinuating  that  our  church,  and  Peter, 
Paul,  James,  and  John,  are  defenders  of  the  twin  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tian imperfection  and  a  death  purgatory.  1  shall  now  attack  these 
doctrines  by  a  variety  of  arguments,  which,  I  hope,  will  recommend 
themselves  to  the  candid  reader's  conscience  and  reason. 

If  I  wanted  to  encounter  Mr.  Hill  with  a  broken  reed,  and  not  with 
the  weapons  of  a  Protestant,  Reason  and  Scripture,  I  would  retort 
here  the  grand  argument  by  which  he  attempts  to  cut  down  our  doc- 
trines of  free  agency,  and  cordial  obedience  :  "  The  generality  of  the 
<;arna/ Clergy  are  for  you,  therefore  your  doctrines  are  false:"  If 
this  argument  be  good,  is  not  that  which  follows  better  still  ?  "  The 
generality  of  bad  men  are  for  your  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfection: 
therefore  that  doctrine  is  false  ;  for  if  it  were  true,  wicked  people 
would  not  so  readily  embrace  it."  But  as  I  see  no  solidity  in  that 
argument  by  which  I  could  disprove  the  very  Being  of  a  God  (for 
the  generality  of  wicked  men  believe  there  is  a  supreme  Being)  I 
discard  it,  and  begin  with  one  which  1  hope  is  not  unworttiy  the 
reader's  attention. 

I.  Does  not  St.  Paul  insinuate  that  no  soul  goes  to  heaven  without 
perfection,  where  he  calls  the  blessed  souls  that  wait  for  a  happy 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  251 

lesfurrection,  wevf*.XTx  hjcxiav  rert^^naiLcevuv,  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect^  and  not  rereXtia/^evx  wivfcxrx  ^ixotiuv,  the  perfected 
opirits  of  just  men  ?  Heb.  xii.  23.  Does  not  this  mode  of  expressioo 
denote  a  perfection  which  they  attained  while  they  were  men,  and 
before  they  commenced  separate  spirits;  that  is,  before  death?  Can 
any  one  go  to  a  holy  and^usf  God,  without  first  being  made  jmt  and 
holy  ?  Does  not  the  apostle  say,  that  llu:  unrighteous,  or  unjust,  shall 
not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  and  that  without  holiness  no  man  shall 
see  the  Lord?  Must  not  this  holiness,  of  whatsoever  degree  it  is,  be 
free  from  every  mixture  of  unrighteousness  ?  If  a  man  have  at  death 
the  least  degree  of  any  unrighteousness  and  defiling  mixture  in  his 
soul,  must  he  not  go  (o  some  purgatory,  or  to  hell  ?  Can  he  go  to 
heaven,  if  nothing  that  defleth  shall  enter  the  A''ew  Jerusalem  ?  And  if 
at  death  his  righteous  disposition  is  free  from  every  unrighteous, 
immoral  mixture,  is  he  not  a  just  man  perfected  on  earth,  according  to 
the  dispensation  he  is  under? 

II.  If  Christ  takes  away  the  outward  pollution  of  believers,  while 
he  absolutely  leaves  their  hearts  full  of  indwelling  sic  in  this  life  : 
why  did  he  find  fault  with  the  Pharisees  for  cleansing  the  outside  of 
the  cup  and  platter,  whilst  they  left  the  inside  full  of  all  corruption? 
If  God  says,  My  son,  give  me  thy  heart;  if  he  requires  truth  in  the 
inward  parts^  and  complains  that  the  Jews  drew  near  to  him  with  their 
lips,  when  their  hearts  were  far  from  him;  is  it  not  strange  he  should 
be  willing  that  the  hearts  of  his  most  peculiar  peo[)le,  the  hearts  of 
Christians,  should  necessarily  remain  unclean  during  the  term  of  life  ? 
—-Besides,  Is  there  any  other  Gospel  way  of  fully  cleansing  the  lips 
and  hands,  but  by  thoroughly  cleansing  the  heart  ?  And  is  not  a  cleansing 
so  far  Pharisaical  as  it  is  heartless?  Once  more  :  if  Christ  has  assured 
us,  that  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  and  that  If  the  Son  shall  make  us 

free,  we  shall  be  free  indeed,  does  it  not  behoove  our  opponents  to  prove, 
that  a  believer  has  3.  pure  heart,  who  is  full  of  indwelling  corruption  ; 
and  that  a  man  is  free  indeed,  who  is  still  sold  under  inbred  sin? 

III.  When  our  Lord  has  bound  the  indwelling  man  of  sin,  the  strong 
man  armed,  can  he  not  cast  him  out? — When  he  cast  out  devils,  and 
unclean  spirits  with  a  word,  did  he  call  Death  to  his  assistance  /  Did 
he  not  radically  perform  the  wonderful  cure,  to  show  his  readiness 
and   ability   radically   to  cure   those   whose  hearts  are  possessed  by 

indwelling  iniquity,  that  cursed  sin  whose  name  is  Legion? When 

the  legion  of  expelled  fiends  entered  into  the  swirte,  the  poor  brutes 
were  delivered  from  their  infernal  guests,  by  being  choked  in  the  sea. 
Death  therefore  cured  them,  not  Christ.  And  can  we  have  no  cure 
but  thai  of  the  swine  ?  No  deliverance  from  indwelling  sin,  but  in  thf^ 


:i52  THE   LAST  CHECK 

arms  of  death  ? — If  this  is  the  case,  go  drown  your  plaguing  corrup- 
tions in  the  first  pond  which  you  meet  with,  O  ye  poor  mourners, 
who  are  more  weary  of  life,  because  of  indwelHng  sin,  than  Rebecca 
zvas  because  of  the  daughters  of  Heth. 

IV.  How  does  the  notion,  of  sin  necessarily  dwelling  in  the  hearts 
of  the  most  advanced  Christians,  agree  with  the  full  tenor  of  the  new 
covenant,  which  runs  thus,  I  will  put  my  lazvs  in  their  minds,  and  write 
them  in  their  hearts. — Tfte  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  shall 
make  them  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death  ?  If  the  law  of  perfect 
love  to  God  and  man  be  fully  put  in  the  heart  of  a  believer,  according 
to  the  full  tenor  of  Christ's  Gospel,  what  room  remains  for  the  hellish 
statutes  of  Satan  ?  Does  not  the  Lord  cleanse  the  believer's  heart,  as 
he  writes  the  law  of  love  there  ?  And  when  that  law  is  wholly  written 
by  the  Spirit,  the  finger  of  God,  whicn  applies  the  all-cleansing  blood, 
is  not  the  heart  wholly  cleansed  ?  when  God  completely  gives  the  heart 
of  flesh,  does  he  not  completely  take  away  the  heart  of  stone  ?  Is  not 
the  heart  of  stone  the  very  rock,  in  which  the  serpent,  indwelling  sin, 
lurks  ?  And  will  God  take  away  that  cursed  rock,  and  spare  the 
venomous  viper  that  breeds  in  its  clefts  ? 

V.  Cannot  the  Utile  leaven  of  sincerity  and  truth  leaven  the  whole 
heart  ?  But  can  this  be  done  without  purging  out  entirely  the  old  lea- 
ven of  malice  and  wickedness  ?  May  not  a  father  in  Christ  be  as  free 
from  sin,  as  one  who  is  totally  given  up  to  a  reprobate  mind,  is  free 
from  righteousness  ? — Is  not  the  glorious  liberty  of  God''s  children,  the 

very  reverse  of  the  total  and  constant  slavery  to  sin,  in  which  the 
strongest  sons  of  Belial  live  and  die  ? — If  a/w/Z  admittance  of  Satan's 
temptation  could  radically  destroy  original  righteousness  in  the  hearts 
of  our  first  parents  ;  why  cannot  a  full  admittance  of  Christ's  Gospel 
radically  destroy  original  unrighteousness  in  the  hearts  of  believers  ? 
— Does  not  the  Gospel  promise  us,  that  where  sin  has  abounded, 
grace  shall  much  more  abound?  And  did  not  sin  so  abound  once,  as 
entirely  to  sweep  away  inward  holiness  before  death?  But  how  does 
grace  abound  much  more  than  sin,  if  it  never  can  entirely  sweep 
away  inward  si7i  without  the  help  of  death? 

VI.  Is  there  not  a  present,  cleansing  power,  as  well  as  a  present, 
atoning  efficacy,  in  the  Redeemer's  blood?  Have  we  not  already  taken 
notice,  that  the  same  passage  of  Scripture  which  informs  us,  that  if 
we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  7is  our  sins,  declares 
also  that  upon  the  same  gracious  terms,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness  ?  Now,  if  the  faithful  and  just  God 
is  ready  to  Ibrgive  to-day  a  poor  mourner  who  sincerely  confesses  his 
guilt:    and  if  it  would  be  doing  divine  faithfulness  and  justice  great 


TO    ANTINOMIANJSM.  ^^^ 

dishonour,  to  say  that  God  will  not  forgive  a  weepinj;  penitent  before 
death  ;  is  it  doing  those  divine  perfections  honour  to  a£«erl,  that  God 
wili  not  cleanse  before  death  a  believer  who  humbly  confesses  and 
deeply  laments  the  remains  of  sin  ?  Why  should  not  God  display  his 
faithfulness  and  justice  in  cleansing  us  now  from  inbred  sin,  as  vTell  as 
forgiving  us  now  our  actual  iniquities  ?  if  we  now  comply  with  the 
gracious  terms,  to  the  performance  of  which  this  double  blessing 
IS  annexed  in  the  Gospel  charter  ? 

VII.  If  our  opponents  allow  that  faith  and  love  may  be  made  per- 
fect two  or  three  minutes  before  death,  they  give  up  the  point.  Death 
is  no  longer  absolutely  necessary  to  the  destruction  of  unbelief  and 
sin  :  for  if  the  evil  heart  of  unbelief  departing  from  the  living  God 
may  be  taken  away,  and  the  completely  honest  and  good  heart  given 
two  or  three  minutes  before  death,  we  desire  to  know  why  this 
change  may  not  take  place  two  or  three  hours — two  or  three  weeks — 
two  or  three  years — before  that  awful  moment  ? 

VIII.  It  is,  I  think,  allowed  on  all  sides,  that  we  are  saved,  that  is, 
sanctified  as  well  as  justified,  by  faith  ? — Now  that  particular  height  of 
sanctification,  that  iwW  circumcision  of  the  heart,  which  centrally  purifies 
the  soul,  springs  from  a  peculiar  degree  of  saving  faith,  and  from  a 
particular  operation  of  the  Spirit  of  burning  : — a  quick  operation  this, 
which  is  compared  to  a  baptism  offire^  and  proves  sometimes  so  sharp 
and  searching,  that  it  is  as  much  as  a  healthy,  strong  man  can  do  to 
bear  up  under  it.  It  seems  therefore  absurd  to  suppose,  that  God?: 
infinite  wisdom  has  tied  this  powerful  operation  to  the  article  of  death, 
that  is,  to  a  time  when  people,  through  delirium  or  excessive  weak- 
ness, are  frequently  unable  to  think,  or  to  bear  the  feeble  operation 
of  a  little  wine  and  water. 

IX.  When  our  Lord  says,  J^Iake  the  tree  good  and  its  fruit  good  ; — a 
good  man  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart  bringeth  forth  good  things 
— does  he  suppose  that  the  hearts  of  his  faithful  people  must  always 
remain  fraught  with  indwelling  sin  ?  Is  indwelling  sin  a  good  treasure  ? 
Or  does  Christ  any  where  plead  for  the  necessary  indwelling  of  a  bad 
treasure  in  a  good  man  ?  When  the  spouse  is  all  glorious  tz-ilhin  ;  when 
her  eye  is  single,  and  her  whole  body  is  full  of  light — how  can  she  be 
still  full  of  darkness,  an  inbred  iniquity  ?  And  when  St.  Paul  observes, 
that  established  Christians  are  full  of  goodness,  Rom.  xv.  14.  who  can 
think  he  means  that  they  are  full  of  heart  corruption,  and  (what  is 
worse  still)  that  they  must  continue  so  to  their  dying  day  ? 

X.  If  Christian  Perfection  be  nothing  but  the  depth  of  evangelical 
repentance,  ihe full  assurance  of  faith,  and  the ;)ttrc  love  of  God  and 
man  shed  abroad  in  a  faithful  believer's  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghoft 


2iJ4  TirE    LAST    CHECK 

given  unto  him,  to  cleanse  him,  and  to  keep  him  clean  from  all  the 
Jilthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  and  to  enable  him  to  fulfil  the  law  of 
Christ,  according  to  the  talents  he  is  entrusted  with,  and  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  is  placed  in  this  world  : — If  this,  I  say,  is  Chris- 
tian perfection,  nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  put  ojQT  the  attain- 
ing of  it  till  we  die  and  go  to  heaven.  This  is  evident  from  the 
descriptions  of  it  which  we  find  in  the  New  Testament.  The  first  is 
in  our  Lord's  account  of  the  beatitudes.  For  how  can  holy  mourning 
be  perfected  in  heaven,  where  there  will  be  nothing  but  perfect  joy  ? 
—Will  not  the  loving  disposition  of  peace-makers  ripen  too  late  for  the 
church,  if  it  ripen  only  in  heaven,  where  there  will  be  no  peace- 
breakers ;  or  in  the  article  of  death,  when  people  lose  their  senses,  and 
are  utterly  disabled  from  acting  a  reconciler's  part '/ — Ye  that  are 
persecuted  for  righteousness  sake,  will  ye  stay  till  ye  are  among  the 
blessed,  to  rejoice  in  tribulation?  Will  the  blessed  revile  you,  and  say 
all  manner  of  evil  of  you  falsely,  to  give  you  an  opportunity  of  being 
exceeding  glad,  when  you  are  counted  worthy  to  suffer  for  Christ's 
name  ? — And  ye,  double-minded  Christians,  will  ye  tarry  for  the 
blessedness  of  the  pui-e  in  heart  till  ye  come  to  heaven  ? — Have  you 
forgot  that  heaven  is  no  purgatory?  but  a  glorious  reward  for  those 
who  are  pure  in  heart  ?  for  those  who  have  purified  themselves,  even 
as  God  is  pure  ? 

XI.  From  the  beatitudes  our  Lord  passes  to  precepts  descriptive  of 
Christian  perfection  reduced  to  practice. — If  thy  brother  hath  aught 
against  thee,  go  thy  way,  and  be  reconciled  to  him, — Jlgree  quickly  with 
thine  adversary. — Resist  not  evil.— Turn  thy  left  cheek  to  him  that  smites 
thee  on  the  right. — Give  alms  so  as  not  to  let  thy  lejt  hand  know  what  thy 
right  hand  does. — Fast  evangelically. — Lay  not  up  treasures  upon  earth. 
— Take  no  [anxious]  thought  what  ye  shall  eat. — Bless  them  that  curse 
you. — Do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your 
Father^  who  is  in  heaven ;  for  he  rnaketh  the  sun  to  shine  on  the  just  and 
on  the  unjust.  Be  ye  perfect  as  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  is  perfect. 
What  attentive  reader  does  not  see,  that  none  of  these  branches  of  a 
Christian's  practical  profession  can  grow  in  the  article  of  death  ; 
and  that  to  suppose  they  can  flourish  in  heaven,  is  to  suppose  that 
Christ  says,  "  Be  thus  and  thus  perfect,  when  it  will  be  absolutely 
impossible  for  you  to  be  thus  and  thus  perfect  ?  Love  your  enemies^ 
when  all  will  be  your  friends  :  Do  good  to  them  that  hate  you.  when  all 
will  flame  with  love  towards  you?  Turn  your  cheek  to  the  smiters, 
when  the  cold  hand  of  death  will  disable  you  to  move  a  finger ;  or 
when  God  shall  have  fixed  a  great  gulf  between  the  smiters  and 
yon  ?" 


TO    AN1IN0MIANISM.  255 

XIT.  The  same  observation  holds  with  respect  to  that  important 
branch  of  Christian  perfection  which  we  call  perfect  self-denial.  If 
thine  eye  qff'end  thee,  says  our  Lord,  pluck  it  out. — If  thy  ri^ht  hand 
qff'end  fhee^  cut  it  qff',  <^c.  Now  can  any  thing  be  more  absurd,  than 
to  put  off  the  perfect  performance  of  these  severe  duties  till  we 
die,  and  totally  lose  our  power  over  our  eyes  and  hands?  Or,  till  we 
arrive  at  heaven,  where  nothing  that  offendeth  can  possibly  be 
admitted  ? 

XIII.  St.  Lvke  gives  us,  in  the  Acts  of  the  apostles,  a  sketch  of  the 
perfection  of  Christians  living  in  community.  The  multitude  of  them 
that  believed,  says  he,  were  of  one  heart  and  of  one  soul.  They  con- 
tinued steadfastly  in  the  apostles^  doctrine,  and  in  prayer. — TTiey  had  all 
things  common  :  parting  their  possessio7is  to  all,  as  every  man  had  need ; 
— Neither  said  uny  of  them  that  aught  of  the  things  zahich  he  possessed 
was  his  own :  and  continuing  daily  in  the  temple,  and  breaking  bread 
from  house  to  house,  they  ate  their  meat  with  gladness  and  singleness  of 
heart,  praising  God.  When  I  read  this  description  of  the  practical 
perfection  of  a  Christian  church,  I  am  tempted  to  smile  at  the  mistake 
of  our  opponents,  and  to  ask  them,  if  we  can  eat  our  meat  with  glad- 
ness in  the  article  of  death  :  or  sell  our  possessions  for  the  relief  of 
our  brethren  upon  earth,  when  we  are  gone  to  heaven/' 

XiV.  Consider  we  of  some  of  8t.  Paul's  exhortations  for  the  dis- 
play of  the  perfection  which  we  contend  for,  and  we  shall  see  in  a 
still  stronger  lisht  the  absurdity  that  I  point  out.  He  says  to  the 
Romans — Present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice  :  and  be  not  conformed 
to  this  present  world, — that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  perfect  will  of 
God. — Having  different  gifts,  use  them  all  for  God  ;  exhorting  with 
diligence,  giving  with  simplicity,  showing  mercy  with  cheerfulness,  not 
slothful  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lordy  Cdmmunicatino 
to  the  necessities  of  the  saints,  given  to  hospitality,  weeping  with  them 
that  weep,  being  of  the  same  mind,  condescending  io  men  of  low  estate, 

providing  things  honest  in  the  sight  of  all  men,  heaping  coals  of  fire 

coals  of  burning  love  and  melting  kindness,  on  the  head  of  your  enemy ^ 
by  giving  him  meat,  if  he  be  hungry :  or  drink,  if  he  be  thirsty  :  over- 
coming thus  evil  with  good. — Ai!;ain  :  Exhorting  the  Corinthians  to 
Christian  perfection,  he  says,  Brethren,  the  time  is  short. — /  would 
have  you  without  cnrefuhiess.  It  remaineth  that  those  who  have  wives,  be 
as  though  they  had  none ;  they  that  weep,  as  if  they  wept  not;  they  that 
rejoice  as  if  they  rejoiced  not ;  they  that  buy,  as  if  they  possessed  not  ; 
and  they  that  use  this  world,  as  not  abusing  it.  <S*c. — Once  more,  stir- 
ring up  the  Philippians  to  the  perfection  of  humble  love,  he  writes, 
Fulfil  ye  my  joy y  that  ye  think  the  same  thing,  have  the  same  love ;  being 


256  THE   LAST   CHECK 

of  one  soul,  of  one  mind.  Do  nothing  through  vain  glory,  hut  in  lowli-^ 
ness  of  mind  esteem  each  the  others  better  than  themselves.  Look  not 
every  one  on  his  own  things,  but  every  one  also  on  the  things  of  others. 
Let  this  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  humbled 
himself  and  became  obedient  unto  death. — Now  all  these  descriptions 
of  the  practical  part  of  Christian  perfection,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  cannot  be  confined  to  the  article  of  death,  much  less  to  our 
arrival  at  heaven.  For  when  we  are  dying,  or  dead,  we  cannot 
present  our  bodies  a  living  sacrifice ; — we  cannot  use  this  world  as  not 
abusing  it :— nor  can  we  look  at  the  things  of  others,  as  well  as  at  our 
own. 

XV.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  St.  Paul's  fine  description  of 
Christian  perfection  under  the  name  of  charity.  Charity  suffereth 
long  ;  but  at  death  all  our  sufferings  are  cut  short.  Charity  is  not  pro- 
voked :  it  thinketh  no  evil :  it  covereth  all  things  :  it  rejoiceth  not  in 
iniquity.  It  hopeth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things,  ^c. 
The  bare  reading  of  this  description  shows,  that  it  does  not  respect  the 
article  of  death,  when  we  cease  to  endure  any  thing  :  much  less  does 
it  respect  heaven,  where  we  shall  have  absolutely  nothing  to  endure. 

XVI.  If  a  perfect  fulfilling  of  our  relative  duties  be  a  most  import- 
ant part  of  Christian  perfection,  how  ungenerous,  how  foolish  is  it  to 
promise  the  simple,  that  they  shall  be  perfect  Christians  at  death,  or 
in  heaven !  Does  not  this  assertion  include  all  the  following 
absurdities  :  ye  shall  perfectly  love  your  husbands  and  wives  in  the 
article  of  death,  when  you  shall  not  be  able  to  distinguish  your  hus- 
bands and  wives  from  other  men  and  women  :  or  in  heaven,  where  ye 
shall  be  like  the  angels  of  God,  and  have  neither  husbands  nor  wives  : 
— Ye  shall  assist  your  parents  and  instruct  your  children  with  perfect 
tenderness,  when  ye  shall  be  past  instructing  or  assisting  them  at  all : 
— when  they  shall  be  in  heaven  or  in  hell — past  needing,  or  past  ad- 
mitting your  assistance  or  instructions.  Ye  shall  inspect  your  servants 
in  perfect  love,  or  serve  your  masters  with  perfect  faithfulness,  when 
the  relations  of  master  and  servant  will  exist  no  more.  Ye  shall 
perfectly  bear  with  the  infirmities  of  your  weak  brethren,  when  ye 
shall  leave  all  your  weak  brethren  behind,  and  go  where  all  your 
brethren  will  be  free  from  every  degree  of  trying  weakness.  Ye 
shall  entertain  strangers,  attend  the  sick,  and  visit  the  prisoners  with 
perfect  love,  when  ye  shall  give  up  the  ghost,  or  when  ye  shall  be  in 
paradise,  where  these  duties  have  no  more  place  than  lazar-houses. 
sick-beds,  prisons,  &c. 

XVIl.  Death,  far  from  introdu»cing  imperfect  Christians  into  the 
state  of  Christian  Perfection,  will  take  them  out  of  the  very  possi- 


TO  antinomianism:  257 

bility  of  ever  attaining  it.  This  will  appear  indubitable,  if  we  remem- 
ber that  Christian  perfection  consists  in  perfect  repentance,  perfec 
faith,  perfect  hope,  perfect  love  of  an  invisible  God,  perfect  charity 
for  visible  enemies,  perfect  patience  in  pain,  and  perfect  resignation 
under  losses  : — in  a  constant  bridling  of  our  bodily  appetites,  in  aa 
assiduous  keeping  of  our  senses,  in  a  cheerful  taking  up  of  our  cross, 
in  a  resolute /o/Zowin^  of  Christ  without  the  camp,  and  in  a  deliberate 
choice  to  suff'er  affliction  with  the  children  of  God,  rather  than  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season.  Now,  so  certain  as  there  can  be  no 
perfect  repentance  in  the  grave,  no  Christian  faith  where  all  is  sight, 
no  perfect  hope  where  all  is  enjoyment,  no  perfect  love  of  an  invisible 
God  or  of  visible  enemies,  where  God  is  visible  and  enemies  are  invi- 
sible ;  no  bearing  pain  with  perfect  patience,  when  pain  is  no  more  ; 
and  suffering  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  where  no  shadow  of 
affliction  lights  upon  the  people  of  God,  <fec. — So  certain,  I  say.  as 
death  incapacitates  us  for  all  these  Christian  duties,  it  incapacitates 
us  also  for  every  branch  of  Christian  perfection.  Mr.  Hill  might  then 
as  well  persuade  the  simple,  that  they  shall  become  perfect  surgeons 
and  perfect  midwives — perfect  masons  and  perfect  gardeners,  in  the 
grave  or  beyond  it,  as  to  persuade  them  that  they  shall  become  per- 
fect penitents  and  perfect  believers  in  the  article  of  death,  or  in  the 
New  Jerusalem. 

XVUI.  From  the  preceding  argument  it  follows,  thnt  the  graces  of 
repentance,  faith,  hope,  and  Christian  charity,  or  love  for  an  invisible 
God,  for  trying  friends,  and  for  invisible  enemies,  must  be  perfected 
here  or  never.  If  Mr.  Hill  grant  that  these  graces  are,  or  may  be 
perfected  here,  he  allows  all  that  we  contend  for.  And  if  he  assert, 
that  they  shall  never  be  perfected,  because  there  is  "  no  perfection 
here,^^  and  because  the  perfection  of  repentance,  Lc.  can  have  no 
more  place  in  heaven  thau  sinning  and  mourning,  I  ask.  What  be- 
comes then  of  the  scriptures  which  Mr.  Hill  is  so  ready  to  produce, 
when  he  defends  Calvinian  perseverance  ?  Jls  for  God,  his  work  is 
perfect — Being  confident  of  this  very  thing,  that  he  who  hath  begun  a 
good  work  in  you  (who  have  always  obeyed,  Phil.  ii.  12.)  will  perform, 
or  e-TFtreMo-it,  will  perfect  it  (if  you  continue  to  obey.) — The  Lord  will 
perfect  what  concerneth  me. — Praying  exceedingly  that  we  (as  workers 
together  with  God)  might  perfect  that  which  is  lacking  in  your  faith. — 
Looking  unto  Jesus  the  author,  and  (jeXeiuTy.v  the  perfector  of  our  faith  : 
for  he  is  faithful  that  promised. — How  can  the  Lord  be  faitiiful,  and  yet 
never  perfect  the  repentance  and  faith  of  his  obedient  people  ?  Will 
he  sow  such  a  blessed  seed  as  that  of  failh,  hope  and  love  to  our  ene- 
mies, and  never  let  a  grain  of  it  either  miscarry  or  bring  forth  fruit 

Vol.    IV.  33 


2dB  IHE    LAST    CMECJt 

to  perfection  ?  fs  not  this  a  flat  contradiction  ?  How  can  a  pregnant 
woman  never  miscarry^  and  yet  never  bring  forth  the  fruit  of  her  womb 
to  any  perfection.  Such  however  is  the  inconsistency  which  Mr.  Hill 
obtrudes  upon  us  as  Gospel.  If  his  doctrine  of  CaZwman  Perseverance 
be  true,  no  believer  can  miscarry  ; — no  grain  of  true  faith  can  fail 
of  producing  fruit  to  perfection  :  and  if  his  doctrine  of  Christian  Per- 
fection be  true,  no  believer  can  be  perfect ;  no  grain  of  faith,  repent- 
ance, hope,  and  love  for  our  husbands  and  wives,  can  possibly  grow  to 
perfection.  How  different  is  this  doctrine  from  that  of  our  Lord* 
who  in  the  parable  of  the  sower,  represents  all  those  who  do  not 
bear  fruit  unto  perfection^  as  miscarrying  professors! 

XIX.  If  impatience  were  that  bodily  disorder,  which  is  commonly 
called  the  heartburn  ;  if  obstinacy  were  a  crick  in  the  neck  ; — pride 
an  irnpo^thnme  in  the  breast  ; — raging  anger,  a  lit  of  the  tooth-ach  ;— 
vanity,  the  dropsy  ; — disobedience,  a  bodily  lameness  ; — uncharitable- 
ness,  the  rheumatism  ; — and  despair,  a  broken  bone  ;  there  would  be 
some  sense  in  the  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfection,  and  reason  could, 
subscribe  to  Mr.  HilTs  creed,  for  it  is  certain,  that  death  effectually 
cures  the  heartburn,  a  crick  in  the  neck,  the  tooth-ach,  &c.  But 
what  real  affinity  have  moral  disorders  with  bodily  death  ?  And  why 
do  our  opponents  thihk  we  maintain  a  "  shocking"  doctrine,  when  we 
assert,  that  death  has  no  more  power  to  cure  our  pride,  than  old  age 
to  remove  onr  covetousness  I  Nay,  do  we  not  see  that  the  most 
decrepit  old  age  does  not  cure  men  even  of  the  grossest  lusts  of  the 
carnal  mind?  When  old  drunkards  and  fornicators  are  as  unable  to 
indulge  their  sensual  appetites  as  if  they  actually  ranked  among 
corpses,  do  they  not  betray  the  same  inclination?  which  they  showed 
when  the  strong  tide,  of  their  youthful  blood  joined  with  the  rapid 
stream  of  their  vicious  habits?  Is  not  this  a  demonstration,  that  no 
decay  of  the  body,  no,  not  that  complete  decay  which  we  call  deathy 
has  any  necessary  tendency  to  alter  our  moral  habits  ?  Aud  do  not  the 
ancients  set  thf^irseal  to  this  observation  ?  Does  not  Solomon  say,  liiat 
In  the  place  where  the  tree  falleth  there  it  shall  be  ?  And  has  Mr.  Uill 
forgotten  those  remarkable  lines  of  Virgil  ? 

Quse  cura  nitentes 
Pascere  equos,  eadem  sequitur  tellure  repostos? 

*'  Disembodied  souls  have  in  the  world  of  spirits  the  very  same 
dispositions  and  propensities  which  they  had  when  they  dwelt  in  the 
body." 

XX.  If  God  hath  appointed  death  to  make  an  end  of  heart  pollu- 
tion, and  to  be  our  complete  saviour  from  sin,  our  opponents  might 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  250 

screen  their  doctrine  of  a  death  purgatory  behind  God's  appointment  ; 
it  being  certain  that  God  who  ran  command  iron  to  swim,  and  fire  to 
cool,  could  also  command  the  filthy  hands  of  death  to  cleanse  the 
thoughts  of  our  hearts.  But  we  do  not  read  in  our  Bible  either  that 
God  ever  gave  to  indwelling  sin  a  lease  of  anv  believer's  heart  tor 
life  ;  or  that  he  ever  appointed  the  king  of  terrors  to  deliver  us  from 
the  deadly  seeds  of  iniquity.  And  although  the  old  Testament  con- 
tains an  account  of  many  carnal  ordinances  adapted  to  the  carn;d  dis- 
position of  the  Jews,  we  do  not  remember  to  have  read  there.  Death 
shall  circumcise  thy  heart,  that  thou  maye^t  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart  — Death  shall  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be 
clean:  from  all  your Jilthiness  Death  will  cleanse  you.  Death  will  put 
my  Spirit  within  you,  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and  (when 
you  are  dead)  ye  shall  keep  7ny  judgments  and  do  them.  And  if  death 
was  never  so  far  honoured  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  we  ask, 
where  he  has  been  invested  with  higher  privileges  under  the  Gospel 
of  Christ?  Is  it  where  St.  Paul  says,  that  Christ  hath  abolished  death, 
and  hath  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the  Gospel?  It 
appears  to  us,  that  it  is  a  high  degree  of  rashness  in  the  Calvinists, 
and  in  the  Romanists,  to  appoint  the  pangs  of  death,  and  the  sorrows 
of  hell  to  do  the  most  difficult,  and  of  consequence,  the  most  glorious 
work  of  Christ's  Spirit,  which  is  powerfully  to  redeem  vs  from  all 
iniquity,  and  to  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar  people  (not  full  of  all 
inbred  unrighteousness,  but  dead  to  sin,  free  from  sin,  pure  in  heart, 
and)  zealous  of  good  works.  And  we  should  think  ourselves  far  more 
guilty  of  impertinence,  if  we  nominated  either  Death  or  Hell  to  do 
the  office  of  the  final  purifier  of  our  hearts,  than  if  we  ordered  a 
sexton  to  do  the  office  of  the  pnme  minister,  or  an  executioner  to  act 
as  the  king's  physician, — With  respect  to  salvation  from  the  root,  as 
well  as  from  the  branches  of  sin,  we  will  therefore  know  nothirig,  as 
absolutely  necessary,  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified,  risen  again, 
and  ascended  on  high,  that  he  might  send  the  Holy  Ghost  to  perfect 
us  in  love,  through  n  faith  that  purifies  the  heart,  and  through  a  hope, 
which  if  any  man  hath,  he  will  purify  himself  even  as  God  is  pure. 

XXI.  To  conclude  :  if  Christian  perfection  implies  the  perfect  use 
of  the  whole  armour  of  God,  what  can  be  more  «bsurd  than  ihe 
thought,  that  we  shall  be  made  perfect  Christians  in  heaven  or  at 
death  ?  How  will  Mr.  Hill  prove  that  we  shall  perfectly  use  the  helmet 
of  hope,  perfectly  wield  the  shield  of  faith,  and  perfectly  quench  the 
fiery  darts  of  the  devil  in  heaven,  where  faith,  hope,  and  the  devil's 
darts,  shall  never  enter  ? — Or  how  will  he  demonstrate,  that  a  soldier 
shall  perfectly  go  through  his   exercise  in  the  artirle  of  death,  tbn» 


2(50  THE    LAST    CHECK 

is,  in  the  very  moment  he  leaves  the  army,  and  for  ever  puts  off  the 
harness  ? 

Mr.  Baxter  wrote  in  the  last  century  a  vindication  of  holiness, 
which  he  calls,  A  Saint,  or  a  Brute  :  the  title  is  bold  ;  but  all  that  can 
be  said  to  defend  iniquity  cannot  make  me  think  it  too  strong ;  so 
many  are  the  arguments  by  which  the  Scriptures  recommend  a  holy 
life.  And  I  own  to  thee,  Reader,  that  when  I  consider  all  that  can  be 
said  in  defence  of  Christian  perfection,  and  all  the  absurdities  which 
clog  the  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfection,  I  am  inclined  to  iipitate 
Mr.  Baxter's  positiveness,  and  to  call  this  Essay  A  perfect  Christian 
in  this  World  J  or  a  perfect  Dupe  in  the  next. 


SECTION  XIII. 

Containing  a  variety  of  Arguments,  to  prove  the  mischievousness  of  the 
Doctrines  of  Christian  Imperfection. 

I.  The  Arguments  of  the  preceding  section  are  produced  to  show 
the  absurdity  of  Mr.  HilPs  doctrine  of  Christian  impertection  ;  those 
which  follow  are  intended  to  prove  the  mischievousness  of  that  modish 
tenet. 

I.  It  strikes  at  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith.  By  grace  ye  are 
saved  through  faith,  not  only  from  the  guilt  and  outward  acts  of  sin, 
but  also  from  its  root  and  secret  buds  :  Not  of^  Tcorks,  says  the  apos- 
tle, lest  any  man  should  [Pharisaically]  boast ;  and  may  we  not  add. 
Not  of  death,  lest  he  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil,  should 
[absurdly]  boast  1"^  Does  not  what  strikes  at  the  doctrine  of  faith,  and 
abridges  the  salvation  which  we  obtain  by  it,  equally  strike  at  Christ's 
power  and  glory?  Is  it  not  the'business  of  faith  to  receive  Christ's  saving 
word,  to  apprehend  the  poxver  of  his  sanctifying  Spirit,  end  to  inherit 
all  the  great  promises,  by  which  he  saves  his  penitent,  believing  jocojo/e 
from  their  sins?  Is  it  not  evident,  that  if  no  believers  can  be  saved 


*  Here,  and  in  some  other  places  St.  Paul  by  works  means  only  the  deeds  of  a  Christless, 
anti-mediatorial  lavp,  and  the  obedience  paid  to  the  Jewish  covenant,  which  is  frequently 
called  the  law,  in  opposition  to  the  Christian  covenant,  which  is  commonly  called  the  Gos- 
pel, i.  e.  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  because  ChrisVs  Gospel  is  the  most  excellent  of  all  the 
Gospel  dispensations.  The  apostle,  therefore,  by  the  expression  not  of  works,  does  by  no 
means  exclude  from  jxrval  salvation  the  law  oj"  faith,  and  the  works  done  in  obedience  to 
that  law :  for,  in  the  preceding  verse,  he  secures  the  obedience  of  faith  when  he  says,  Ye 
are  saved,  i.  e.  made  partakers  of  the  blessing  of  the  Christian  dispensation  by  grace 
througJt  faith.  Here  then  *he  word  by  grace,  secures  the  frst  Gospel  axiom,  and  the 
word  through  faith,  secures  the  second. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  26i 

from  indwelling  sin  through  faiths  we  must  correct  the  apostle's  doc- 
tri«e,  and  say,  By  grace  ye  are  saved  from  the  remains  of  sin  through 
death?  And  can  unprejudiced  Protestants  admit  so  Christ-debasing, 
Death-exalting  a  tenet,  without  giving  a  dangerous  blow  to  the  genuine 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation? 

II.  It  dishonours  Christ  as  a  Prophet^  for  as  such  he  came  to  teach 
us  to  be  now  meek  and  lowly  in  heart  \  but  the  imperfect  Gospel  of 
the  day  teaches,  that  we  must  necessarily  continue  passionate  and 
proud  in  heart  till  death  ;  for  pride  and  immoderate  anger  are,  I 
apprehend,  two  main  branches  of  indwelling  sin.  Again  :  my  motto 
demoHstrates,  that  he  publicly  taught  the  multitudes  the  doctrine  of 
perfection,  and  Mr.  Hill  insinuates  that  this  doctrine  is  "shocking,'" 
ncrt  to  say  "  blasphemous." 

III.  It  disgraces  Christ  as  the  Captain  of  our  salvation.  For  St. 
Paul  says,  that  our  Captain  furnishes  us  with  weapons  mighty  through 
God  to  the  pulling  down  of  Satan*s  strong  holds,  and  to  the  bringing  of 
every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ.  But  our  oppo- 
nents represent  the  devil's  strong  hold  as  absolutely  impregnable.  No 
weapons  of  our  warfare  can  pull  down  Apollyon's  throne.  Inbred  sin 
shall  maintain  its  place  in  man's  heart  till  death  strike  the  victorious 
blow.  Christ  may  indeed  fight  against  the  Jericho  within,  as  Joab 
fought  against  Rabbah   of  the   children  of  Ammon :    but  then  he  must 

send  for  Death,  as  Joab  sent  for  David,  saying,  /  have  fought  against 
Rabbah,  ajid  have  taken  the  City  of  waters:  now  therefore,  gather  the 
rest  of  the  people  together,  and  encamp  against  the  city,  and  take  it,  lest 
I  take  the  city,  and  it  be  called  after  my  name,  2  Sam.  xii.  27,  28. 

IV.  It  pours  contempt  upon  him  as  the  Surety  of  the  new  covenant, 
in  which  God  has  engaged  himself  to  deliver  obedient  believers  from 
their  enemies,  that  they  may  serve  him  without  (tormenting) /ear  all  the 
days  of  their  lives;  for  how  does  he  execute  his  ofl5ce  in  this  respect, 
if  he  never  sees  that  such  believers  be  delivered  from  their  most 
oppressive  and  inveterate  enemy,  indwelling  sin?  Or  if  that  deliver- 
ance take  place  only  at  death,  how  can  they,  in  consequence  of  their 
death  freedom,  serve  God  without  fear  all  the  days  of  their  lives. 

V.  It  affronts  Christ  as  a  King,  when  it  represents  the  believer's 
heart,  which  is  Christ's  spiritual  throne,  as  being  necessarily  full  of 
indwelling  sin, — a  spiritual  rebel,  who  notwithstanding  the  joint  efforts 
of  Christ  and  the  believer,  maintains  his  ground  against  them  both 
during  the  term  of  life.— Again  :  Does  not  a  good  king  deliver  his 
loyal  subjects  from  oppression,  and  avenge  them  of  a  tyrannical 
adversary,  when  they  cry  to  him  in  their  distress?  Bat  dots  our 
Lord  show  himself  such  a  king,  if  he  never  avenge  them,  nor  turo 


262  THE  LAST  CHECK 

the  usurper,  the  murderer  sin,  out  of  < heir  breasts? — Once  more. 
If  our  deliverance  from  sin  depend  upon  the  stroke  of  death,  and  not 
upon  a  stroke  of  Christ's  grace,  might  we  not  call  upon  the  king  of 
terrors,  as  well  as  upon  the  King  of  saints,  for  deliverance  from  the 
remains  of  sin  ?  But  where  is  the  difference  between  saying,  O  Death, 
help  us,  and  crying,  O  Baal,  save  us  ? 

VJ.  It  injures  Christ  as  a  Restorer  of  pure,  spiritual  worship  in 
God's  spiritual  temple — the  heart  of  man.  For  it  indirectly  repre* 
sents  him  as  a  Pharisaic  Saviour,  who  made  much  ado  about  driving, 
with  a  whip,  harmless  sheep  and  oxen  out  of  his  Father's  material 
temple  ;  but  who  gives  full  leave  to  Satan  not  only  to  bring  sheep  and 
doves  into  the  believer's  heart  ;  but  also  to  harbour  and  breed  there, 
during  the  term  of  life,  the  swelling  toad,  pride  ;  and  the  hissing  vipir^ 
envy  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  greedy  dog  avarice,  and  the  filthy  swine 
impurity  ;  under  pretence  of  "  exercising  the  patience,  and  engaging 
the  industry''''  of  the  worshippers,  if  we  may  believe  the  Calvin  of 
the  day.  See  the  Argument  against  Christian  Perfection  at  the  end 
of  this  section. 

VII.  It  insults  Christ  as  a  Priest,  for  our  Melchisedec  shed  his 
all-cleansing  blood  upon  the  cross,  and  now  pours  his  all-availing 
prayer  before  the  throne  ;  asking,  that,  upon  evangelical  terms,  we 
may  now  be  cleansed  from  all  unrighteousness,  and  perfected  in  one. 
But  if  we  assert  that  believers,  let  them  be  ever  so  faithful,  can  never 
be  thus  cleansed  and  perfected  in  one  till  death  comes  to  the  Saviour's 
assistance,  do  we  not  place  our  Lord's  cleansing  blood,  and  powerful 
intercession,  and  of  consequence  his  priesthood,  in  an  unscriptural 
and  contemptible  light? 

Should  Mr.  Hill  attempt  to  retort  this  argument  by  saying,  '*  That 
it  is  our  doctrine,  not  his,  which  derogates  from  the  honour  of  Christ's 
priesthood,  because  we  should  no  longer  need  our  High  Priest's 
blood,  if  we  were  cleansed  from  all  sin  :"   I  reply  : 

1.  Perfect  Christians  need  as  much  the  virtue  of  Christ's  blood,  to 
prevent  the  guilt  and  pollution  of  sin  from  returning,  as  imperfect 
Christians  want  it  to  drive  that  guilt  and  pollution  away.  It  is  not 
enough  that  the  blood  of  the  true  paschal  Lamb  has  been  sprinkled 
upon  our  souls  to  keep  off  the  destroyer:  it  must  still  remain  there 
to  hincler  his  coming  back  with  seven  other  spirits  more  wicked  than 

himself. 2.  Mr.  Hill  i&  in  the  dark ;    he  calls  for  a  light ;    and 

when  it  is  brought  he  observes,  the  darkness  of  the  room  is  now 
totally  removed.  Is  it  so.  Sir  ?  replies  his  footman  ;  theu  you  need 
these  candlt>s  no  more  ;  if  they  have  totally  removed  the  darkness  of 
your  apartment,  you  have  no  more  need  of  them.     Mr.  Hill  smiles  at 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  263 

the  absurdity  of  his  servant's  argument :  and  yet,  it  is  well  if  he 
does  not  admire  the  wisdom  of  mv  opponent's  objection. — 3.  The 
hearts  of  perfect  Christians  are  cleansed,  and  kept  clean  by /aif/i; 
and  Christian  perfection  means  the  perfection  of  Christian  failh, 
whose  property  it  is  to  endear  Christ  and  his  blood  more  and  more  ; 
nothing  then  can  be  less  reasonable  than  to  say,  that,  upon  our  prin- 
ciples, perfect  believers  have  done  with  the  atoning  blood. — 4.  Such 
believers  continually  overcome  the  accuser  of  the  brethren,  through  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb  :  there  is  no  moment,  therefore,  in  which  they  can 
spare  it :  they  are  feeble  believers  who  can  yet  dispense  with  its 
constant  application  :  and  hence  it  is,  that  they  continue  feeble. 
None  make  so  much  use  of  Christ's  blood  as  perfect  Christians. 
Once  it  was  only  their  medicine,  which  they  took  now  and  (hen, 
when  a  fit  of  fear,  or  a  pang  of  guilt,  obliged  them  to  it;  but  now  it 
is  the  Divine  preservative,  which  keeps  off  tht-  infection  of  sin.  Now 
it  is  the  reviving  cordial,  which  they  take  to  prevent  their  gron^in^ 
"weary,  or  faint  in  their  minds :  now  it  is  their  daily  drink:  now  it  is 
what  they  sprinkle  their  every  thought,  word,  and  work  with  :  in  a 
word,  it  is  that  blood  which  constantly  speaks  before  God  and  in  their 
consciences  better  things  than  the  blood  of  Abel,  and  actually  procures 
for  them  all  the  blessings  which  they  enjoy  or  expect.  To  say, 
therefore,  that  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  supersedes  the 
need  of  Christ's  blood,  is  not  less  absurd  than  to  assert  that  the  per- 
fection of  navigation  renders  the  great  deep  a  useless  reservoir  of 
water.  Lastly,  are  not  the  saints  before  the  throne  perfectly  sinless  ? 
And  who  are  more  ready  than  they  to  extol  the  blood  and  sing  the 
song  of  the  Lamb  ;  to  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in 
his  own  blood,  be  glory,  4"C.  F  If  an  angel  preached  to  them  the  modern 
Gospel,  and  desired  them  to  plead  for  the  remains  of  sin,  lest  they 
should  lose  their  peculiar  value  for  the  atoning  blood  ;  would  not  they 
all  suspect  him  to  be  an  angel  of  darkness  transforming  himself  into 
an  angel  of  light?  And  shall  we  be  the  dupes  of  the  tempter,  who 
deceives  good  men,  that  they  may  deceive  us  by  a  similar  argu- 
ment? 

VIIL  It  discredits  Christ  as  the  Fulfiller  of  the  Father's  promise, 
and  as  the  Sender  of  the  indwelling,  abiding  Comforter,  in  order  that 
our  joy  may  be  fuH  :  for  the  Spirit  never  takes  his  constant  abode  as 
a  Comforter  in  a  heart  full  of  indwelling  sin.  If  he  vi?it  such  a  heart 
with  his  consolations,  it  is  only  as  a  guest  that  tarrieth  but  a  day. 
When  he  enters  a  soul  fraught  with  inbred  corruption,  he  rather 
acts  as  a  Reprover  than  as  a  Comforter ;  throwing  down  the  tables  of 
the  spiritual  money-changers  ;  hindering  the  vessels  which  are  not 


264  THE   LAST   CHECK 

hoiiaess  unto  the  Lord,  from  being  carried  through  God's  spiritual 
temple.  n>nd  expelling,  according  to  the  degree  of  our  faith,  whatso- 
ever woald  make  God's  house  a  den  of  thieves. 

But  instead  of  this,  Mr.  HilPs  doctrine  considers  the  heart  of  a 
believer  as  a  den  of  lions;  and  represents  Christ's  Spirit,  not  as  the 
destroyer^  but  as  the  keeper  of  the  wild  beasts,  and  evil  tempers  which 
dwell  therein.  This  I  conclude  from  these  words  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Toplady. — "  They  (indwelling  sin  and  unholy  tempers)  do  not  quite 
expire,  till  the  renewed  soul  is  taken  up  from  eijrth  to  heaven.  In 
(he  mean  time  these  heated  remains  of  depravity  will,  too  often,  like 
prisoners  in  a  dungeon,  crawl  towards  the  window,  though  in  chains, 
and  show  themselves  through  the  grate.  Nay,  I  do  not  know  whe- 
ther the  strivings  of  inherent  corruption  for  mastery,  be  not  fre- 
quently more  violent  in  a  regenerate  person,  than  even  in  one  who  is 
dead  in  trespasses ;  as  wild  beasts  are  sometimes  the  more  rampant 
and  furious  for  being  wounded." — See  Caveat  against  Unsifund  Doc- 
trines, page  65. — When  1  read  this  Gospel,  I  cannot  oul  throw  in  a 
Caveat  against  Mr.  Topladifs  Caveat.  For  if  his  he  not  unsound, 
every  body  must  allow  it  to  be  uncomfortable  and  unsafe.  Who  would 
not  think  it  dreadfully  dangerous  to  dwell  vvith  one  wild  beast  that 
cannot  be  killed,  unless  we  are  first  killed  ourselves  I  but  how  much 
more  dangerous  is  it  to  be  condemned  to  dwell  for  hfe  with  a  number 
of  them,  which  are  not  only  immortal  so  long  as  we  are  alive,  but  arc 
sometimes  more  rampant  and  furious  for  their  being  znoundcd.  The 
Saviour  preached  by  Mr.  Toplady  only  wounds  the  Egyj'tian  dragon, 
the  inward  Pharaoh,  and  makes  him  rage,  but  our  Jesus  drowns  him 
in  the  sea  of  his  own  blood,  barely  by  stretching  out  the  rod  of  his 
power,  when  we  stretch  out  to  him  our  arms  of  faith.  Mr.  HilVs 
Redeemer  only  takes  Agag  prisoner,  as  double-minded  Saul  did  ;  but 
our  Redeemer  hews  him  in  pieces  as  upri^^ht  Samuel.  The  Christ  oi 
the  Calvinists  says,  "  Confine  the  enemy  :  thoujih  he  may  possibly 
be  fiercer  than  before."  But  ours  thrusts  out  the  enemy  before  us, 
and  says,  Destroy,  Deut.  xxxiii.  27.  O  ye  preachers  of  ^finished  sal- 
vation, we  leave  it  to  your  candour  to  decide  which  of  these  doctrines 
brings  most  glory  to  the  saving  name  of  Jesus. 

IX.  The  doctrine  of  our  necessary  continuance  in  indwelling  sin  to 
our  last  moments,  makes  us  naturally  overlook  or  despise  the  exceed- 
ing great  and  precious  promises  given  unto  us,  that  by  these  we  might  be 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  that  is,  of  God's  perfect  holiness; 
having  escaped  the  corruption  that  is  in  the  world  through  lust,  2  Pet. 
J.  4.  and  thus  it  naturally  defeats  the  full  effect  of  evangelical  truths 
iind  ministerial  labours:  nn  eSect  this,  which  is  thus  described  by 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  265 

:^i.  Paul ;  teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom,  that  we  may  present  every 
man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus,  i.  e.  perfect  according  lo  the  richest  dis- 
pensation of  divine  grace,  which  is  the  Gospel  of  Christ  Jesus.  Col.  i.  28. 
— Again,  The  Scripture  is  profitable  for  instruction  in  righteousness,  that 
the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  to  all  good  works, 
2.  Tim.  iii.  16.  Now  we  apprehend  that  the  perfection  which  tho- 
roughly furnishes  believers  unto  all  good  works,  is  a  perfection  pro- 
ductive of  all  the  good  works  [evangelically  as  well  as  providentially] 
prepared  that  we  should  walk  in  them  before  death  :  because  [whatever 
Mr.  *Hill  may  insinuate  to  the  contrary  in  England,  and  Father 
JValsh  at  Paris,]  the  Scriptures  say.  Whatsoever  thy  handfindeth  to  do, 
do  it  with  thy  might;  for  there  is  no  work  nor  device,  [in  death,  i.  e.]  in 
the  grave  whither  thou  guest.  For  as  the  tree  falls  so  it  lies  :  if  it  fulls 
full  of  rottenness  with  a  brood  of  vipers,  and  a  never-dying  worn)  in 
its  hollow  centre,  it  will  continue  in  that  very  condition  ;  and  wo  to 
the  man  who  trusts  that  the  pangs  of  death  will  kill  the  worm,  or  that 
a  purgative  fire  will  spare  the  rotten  wood  and  consume  the  vipers. 

X.  It  defeats  in  part  the  end  of  the  Gospel  precepts,  to  the  fulfilling 
of  which  Gospel  promises  are  but  means.  All  the  law,  the  prophets, 
and  the  apostolic  writings,  hang  on  these  two  commandments :  "  lliou 
shall  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself, 
through  penitential  faith  in  t\i^,  light  of  thy  dispensation  ;  that  is,  in 
two  words,  thou  shalt  be  evangelically  perfect.  Now  if  we  believe  that 
it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  be  thus  perfect  by  keeping  these  two 
blessed  commandments  in  faith,  we  cannot  but  believe  also  that  God, 
who  requires  us  to  keep  them,  is  defective  in  wisdom,  equity,  and 
goodness,  by  requiring  us  to  do  what  is  absolutely  impossible  ;  and 
we  represent  our  church  as  a  wicked  stepmother,  who  betrays  all 
her  children  into  the  wanton  commission  of  perjury,  by  requiring  of 
every  one  of  them,  in  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  a  most  solemn  vow, 
by  which  they  bind  themselves  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  of  the 
congregation,  that  they  will  keep  God's  holy  will  and  commandments," 
[i.  e.  that  they  will  keep  God's  evangelical  law]  "  and  walk  in  the 
same  all  the  days  of  their  life."  * 

XI.  It  has  a  necessary  tendency  to  unnerve  our  deepest  prayers. 
How  can  we  pray  in  faith  that  God  would  help  us  to  do  his  will  on 
earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven,  or  that  he  would  cleanse  the  thoughts  of 
our  hearts,  that  we  may  perfectly  lore  him  and  worthily  magnify  his 
holy  name  : — How  can  we,  I  say,  ask  this  in  faith,  if  we  disbelieve  the 
very  possibility  of  having  these  petitions  answered  ?  And  what  poor 
encouragement  had  Epaphras,  upon  the  scheme  which  we  oppose, 
ilways  to  labour  fervently  for  the  Ccloasians  in  prayer^  that  they  might 

Vol.   IV.  31 


:^66  THE    LAST    CHECK 

stand  perfect  and  compIeU  in  dke  rtill  of  God:  or  St.  Paul  to  wish  that 
the  very  God  of  peace  zcotdd  sanctify  the  Thessalonians  s/ioZ/i/,  and  that 
their  rrhole  spirit,  and  toid,  and  body  viight  be  presened  blGinele^f.  it 
these  request?  could  not  be  granted  6f/brc  death,  and  were  uoaToidably 
to  be  granted  to  them  and  to  all  believers  in  the  article  thereot'? 

XII.  It  soothes  lukewarm,  unholj  professors,  and  encourages  them 
to  si^  qoietly  nnder  the  vine  of  Sodom,  and  under  their  own  barren 
fig-tree  :  I  mean  under  the  baneful  influence  of  their  unheJi^'  and 
indzcelling  «n  ;  nothing  being  more  pleasing  to  the  carnal  mind  than 
this  siren  song :  "  it  is  absolutely  impossible  that  the  thoughts  of 
Toar  hearts  should  be  cleansed  in  this  life,  God  himself  does  not  ex- 
pect that  yon  should  be  purified  from  all  iniquity  on  this  side  the 
grave.  It  is  proper  that  sin  should  dwell  m  your  hearts  by  nnbelief, 
to  endear  Christ  to  you.  and  so  to  zcork  to^eiher  for  your  good.'"  The 
preachers  of  mere  morality  insinuate,  that  God  does  not  forgive  sins 
before  death.  This  dangerous,  uncomfortable  doctrine,  damps  the 
faith  of  penitents,  who  think  it  absurd  to  expect  before  death  what  they 
are  taught  they  can  only  receive  at  death.  And  as  it  is  with  the  pardon 
of  sins,  so  it  is  also  with  cleansing  from  all  unrtErhteovsness.  The 
preachers  of  Christian  imperfection  tell  their  bearers  that  nobody 
can  be  cleansed  from  heart  sin  before  death.  This  new  doctrine  makes 
them  secretly  trnst  in  a  death  purgatory,  and  hinders  them  from  plead- 
ing in  faith  the  promises  of  full  sanctification  before  death  stares  them 
in  the  face  ;  while  others,  like  spared  Agag.  madly  venture  upon  the 
spear  of  the  king  of  terrors  with  their  hearts  full  of  iodwelhng  sin. 
The  dead  tell  no  tales  dow,  bat  it  will  be  well  if,  ra  the  day  of  the 
resurrection,  those  who  plead  for  the  necessary  indwelling  of  sin 
during  the  term  of  life,  do  not  meet  in  the  great  day  with  some  delu- 
ded souls,  who  will  give  thera  no  thanks  for  betraying  them,  to  their 
last  moments,  into  the  hands  of  indwelling  sin,  by  insinu-^ting  that 
there  can  be  no  deliverance  from  oar  evil  tempers  before  we  are 
ready  to  exchange  a  death- bed  for  a  coffin. 

XIII.  It  greatly  discourages  wiUing  Israelites,  and  weakens  the 
bands  of  the  faithful  spies,  who  want  to  lead  feeble  believers  on.  and 
to  take  by  force  the  kingdom  which  consists  ia  rigfiteotisness,  peace,  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost:  nothing  being  more  proper  to  damp  their  ar- 
door  than  such  a  speech  as  this  :  "  Yoa  may  strive  against  your  cor- 
ruptions and  evil  tempers  as  long  as  yoa  please  :  but  you  shall  never 
get  rid  of  them  ;  tbe  Jericho  witbio  is  impregnable  :  it  is  fenced  up 
to  heaven,  and  garrisoned  by  the  tall,  invincible,  immortal  sons  of 
Anak  :  so  strong  are  these  adversaries,  that  the  t\velve  apostles,  with 
the  help  of  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost  could  never  tarn  one  of  them 


10    AXTIXOMIAMlSJf.  267 

oat  of  his  post.  Nay,  they  so  buffeted  and  overpowered  St  Paul, 
the  most  zealon?  of  the  apostles,  that  trtey  fairly  took  him  priiouer, 
!fold  him  under  sin,  and  made  bim  groan  to  the  last,  O  zi.retcAed,  carnal, 
man  that  I  am,  Teho  shall  deliver  me  from  the  lav  ijf  my  inbred  cor- 
raptioos,  xchich  brings  me  into  captivity  to  the  laze  of  sin  :  I  thank  God 
through  death.  So  then  with  the  JUsh  yoo  must,  as  well  aa  St.  Paul, 
serve  the  laze  of  sin  till  yoa  die.  Nor  need  you  fret  at  these  tidings  ; 
for  they  are  the  pare  Go-pel  of  Christ — the  genuine  doctnoes  otfree 
grace,  and  Cbristian  liberty.  In  Christ  yoa  are  free,  bat  io  your- 
selves you  mast  continue  to  serve  the  law  of  sin  :  and  indeed  why 
should  you  not  do  it,  since  the  sins  of  a  Christian  are/or  hit  good,  and 
even  the  dung  of  a  sheep  of  Christ  is  of  some  use — Day,  of  tbe  most 
excellent  use,  if  we  believe  Mr.  Hill ;  for  the  most  griezous  falls — 
fails  into  repeated  acts  of  adultery  and  deliberate  murder,  serve  to 
make  us  know  our  place,  to  drive  us  nearer  to  Christ,  and  to  make  as 
sintf  louder  the  praises  of  restoring  grace."  Besides,  that  gentleman 
represents  those  who  preach  deliverance  from  indweUing  sin  before 
we  go  into  a  death  purgatory,  as  "  men  of  a  Pharisaic  cast — blind 
men,  who  never  saw  their  own  hearts — proud  men,  who  oppose  the 
rig:hteoasness  of  God, — vain  men,  who  aspire  at  robbing  Christ  of  the 
glory  of  beine  alone  Ttithout  sin^  in  short,  men  who  bold  doctriDes 
which  are  shocking,  not  to  say  bloiphemous.' 

How  would  this  speech  damp  our  d«=^3ire>  after  salvation  from  in- 
dwelling;  sin  !  How  wor.\d  it  make  as  ho^  the  cursed  chains  of  oar 
inbred  corruptions  if  the  cloven  foot  of  the  imperfect,  uochaste 
Diana,  which  it  holds  out  to  public  view  without  Gospel  sandals, 
were  not  sulfici*^nt  to  shock  us  back  from  this  impure  Gospel  Vj  the 
pare  Gospel  of  Jesos  Christ !  And  yet  (if  I  am  not  mistaken)  this 
dangerou"!  speech  only  unfolds  the  scope  of  Mr.  Hill' t  ^^  Creed  for 
Perfeciiouiits,'^ 

XIV.  To  conclude  :  tbe  modish  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfec- 
tion and  death  purgatory,  is  so  contrived,  that  carnal  men  will  always 
prefer  the  pursratory  of  tbe  Calvinists  to  that  of  the  Papists.  For  the 
Papists  prescribe  I  know  not  how  many  cups  of  divine  wrath  and 
dire  vengeance,  which  oagfat  to  be  drank  by  the  souls  of  the  believ- 
ers who  die  half  purged,  or  three  parts  cleansed.  These  half  dammed 
or  a  ^unritfr  (iamned  creatures  mast  go  through  a  severe  discipline.  - 
fiery  salvation  in  the  very  aoburbs  of  hell,  before  they  can  be  periV  . 
ponded.  Bat  oar  opponents  have  found  oat  a  way  to  deliver  Afl/;- 
hearted  believers  out  of  all  fear  in  this  respect.  Such  believers 
need  not  utterly  abolish  ihe  body  of  sin  in  this  world  The  inbred 
man  of  sin  not  only  may.  bat  be  shall,  live  as  long  a«  we  do.     Voa 


2G8  THE    LAST    CHECK 

will  possibly  ask  :  «'  What  is  to  become  of  this  sinful  guest  ?  Shall  he 
take  us  to  hell,  or  shall  we  take  him  to  heaven  ?  If  he  cannot  die  in 
this  world,  will  Christ  destroy  him  in  the  next  ?"  No  :  here  Christ  is 
almost  left  out  of  the  question  by  those  who  pretend  to  be  determined 
to  know  nothing  but  Christ  and  him  crucified.  Our  indwelling  adver- 
sary is  not  destroyed  by  the  brightness  of  the  Redeemer's  spiritual 
appearing,  but  by  the  gloom  of  the  appearance  of  death.  Thus  they 
have  found  another  Jesus — another  Saviour  from  sin.  The  king  of 
terrors  comes  to  the  assistance  of  Jesus's  sanctifying  grace,  and  in- 
stantaneously delivers  the  carnal  believer  from  indwelling  pride,  unbe- 
lief, covetousness,  peevishness,  uncharitableness,  love  of  the  world, 
and  inordinate  affection.  Thus  the  clammy  sweats,  brought  on  by  the 
greedy  monster,  kill,  it  seems,  the  tree  of  sin,  of  which  the  blood  of 
Christ  could  only  kill  the  buds  !  The  dying  sinner's  breath  does  the 
capital  work  of  the  Spirit  of  holiness !  And  by  the  most  astonishing 
of  all  miracles,  the  faint,  infectious,  last  gasp  of  a  sinful  believer, 
blows  away,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  great  mountain  of  inward 
corruption,  which  all  the  means  of  grace,  all  the  faith,  prayers,  and 
sacraments  of  twenty,  perhaps  of  forty  years  ;  with  all  the  love  in  the 
heart  of  our  Zerubbabel,  all  the  blood  in  his  veins,  all  the  power  in 
his  hands,  and  all  the  faithfulness  in  his  breast,  were  never  able  to 
remove  !  If  this  doctrine  be  true,  how  greatly  was  St.  Paul  mista- 
ken when  he  said.  The  sting  of  death  is  sm,  &c.  Thanks  be  to  God, 
who  giveth  ns  the  victory  through  Christ  our  Lord !  Should  he  not  have 
said.  Death  is  the  cure  of  sin,  instead  of  saying,  sin  is  the  sting  of  death '^ 
And  should  not  his  praises  flow  thus,  Thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth  us 
the  victory  through  death,  our  great  and  only  deliverer  from  our  great- 
est and  fiercest  enemy,  indwelling  sin? 


SECTION  XIV, 

c5«  Answer  to  the  Arguments  by  which  the  Imperfeciionists  support  the 
Doctrine  of  the  necessary  Indwelling  of  Sin  in  all  Believers  till  they 
go  into  the  Death  Purgatory. 

The  pleasing  effect  of  the  lights  in  a  picture,  is  considerably 
heightened  by  the  bold  opposition  of  strong  shades.  If  the  preceding 
arguments  are  the  lights,  by  which  we  hope  agreeably  to  strike  the 
mental  eyes  of  the  teader,  who  candidly  considers  the  doctrine  of 
Christian  perfection,  it  will  not  be  improper  to  heighten  those  lights 
by  the  amazing  contrast  of  the  arguments,  which   our   opponents 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  260 

advance  in  defence  of  indwelling  am,  and  Christian  imperfection. 
These  arguments  appear  to  us  shades, — bold,  logical  shades  :  but 
the  bolder  they  are,  the  more  they  will  set  off  the  lustre  of  the  truth 
which  we  recommend  :  for,  if  all  things  work  for  good  to  them  that 
love  God,  why  sh'ould  not  all  the  errors  of  others,  work  for  good  to 
them  that  love  the  truth  ?  I  am  ahundantly  furnished  with  the 
erroneous  shades  I  want,  by  three  of  the  most  approved  authors, 
who  support  the  ark  of  the  imperfect  Gospel,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Toplady, 
author  of  the  Historic  Proof  of  Calvinism  :— the  Rev.  Mr.  Martin, 
author  of  several  Tracts,  which  are  esteemed  by  the  Calvinists  : — 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Henry,  famous  for  his  voluminous  exposition  of  the 
Bible. 

The  first  of  these  authors,  in  his  Caveat  against  Unsound  Doctrine, 
intimates  that  there  never  were,  on  earth,  but  three  persons  possessed 
of  the  sinless  perfection  which  we  contend  for  ;  Adam,  Eve,  and 
Jesus  Christ : — A  bold  intimation  this,  which,  like  the  Babel  1  attack, 
has  its  foundation  in  Confusion: — in  the  confusion  of  three  perfection? 
which  are  entirely  different; — the  Paradisiacal,  sinless  perfection  of 
our  first  parents  :  the  Mediatorial,  sinless  perfection  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  the  Christian  evangelically  sinless  perfection  of  St.  John.  This 
intimation  is  supported  by  some  passages  from  Solomon,  which  have 
been  already  considered  in  Sect.  XI.  and  by  the  following  Argument. 

Arg.  I.  "  A  person  of  the  amplest  foxtune  cannot  help  the  har- 
bouring of  snakes,  toads,  &c.  on  his  lands  ;  but  they  will  breed,  and 
nestle,  and  crawl  about  his  estate  whether  he  will  or  no.  All  he 
can  do  is  to  pursue  and  kill  them  whenever  they  make  their  appear- 
ance :  yet  let  him  be  ever  so  vigilant  and  diligent,  there  will  always 
be  a  succession  of  those  creatures,  to  exercise  his  patience,  and  engage 
his  industry.  So  it  is  with  the  true  believer,  in  respect  to  indwelling 
sin."  Caveat  against  Unsound  Doctrines,  page  54.  To  this  we 
answer : 

1.  From  the  clause  which  I  produce  in  Italics  in  this  argument 
one  would  think  that  patience  and  industry  cannot  be  properly  exer- 
cised without  indwelling  sin.  If  so,  does  it  not  follow,  that  our  Lord's 
patience  and  industry  always  wanted  proper  exercise,  because  he  wa? 
always  perfectly  free  from  indwelling  sin  ?  We  are  of  a  different 
sentiment  with  respect  to  our  Lord's  Christian  virtues :  and  we 
apprehend  that  the  patience  and  industry  of  the  most  perfect  believer 
will  always,  without  the  opposition  of  indwelling  sin,  find/«//  exercise 
in  doing  and  suffering  the  whole  will  of  God  :  in  keeping  the  body 
under  ;  in  striving  against  the  sin  of  others  ;  in  testifying  by  word  Mnd 
deed  that  the  works  of  the  world  are  evil ;  in  resisting  the  number 


270  THE   LAST    CHECK 

less  temptations  of  him,  who  goes  about  as  a  roaring  lion^  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour ;  and  in  preparing  to  conflict  with  the  king  of 
terrors. 

2.  Why  could  not  assiduous  vigilance  clear  an  estate  of  snakes,  as 
one  of  our  kings  cleared  Great  Britain  of  wolves  ?  Di(|  be  not 
attempt  and  accomplish  what  appeared  impossible  to  less  resolute 
minds  ?  Mr.  Toplady  is  too  well  acquainted  with  the  Classics  not  to 
know  what  the  heathens  themselves  have  said  of  industry  and  love : 

Omnia  vincit  amor. — Labor  improbus  omnia  vincit. 

If  "  Love  and  incessant  labour  overcome  the  greatest  difficulties, ''^  what 
cannot  a  diligent  believer  do,  who  is  animated  by  the  love  of  God, 
and  feels  that  he  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  n^ho  strengthens  him  ? 

3.  But  the  capital  flaw  of  Mr.  Toplady''$  argument  consists  in  so 
considering  the  weakness  of  free  will,  as  entirely  to  leave  God  and  the 
sanctifying  power  of  his  Spirit  out  of  the  question.  That  gentleman 
forgets,  that  for  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God  wa$  manifested,  that  he 
might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil.  Nor  does  be  considier,  that 
a  worm,  assisted  by  Omnipotence  itself,  is  capable  of  the  greatest 
achievements.  Of  this  we  have  an  illustrious  instance  in  Moses,  with 
respect  to  the  removal  of  the  lice,  the  frogs,  and  the  locusts.  Moses 
entreated  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  turned  a  mighty,  strong  west  wind, 
which  took  away  the  locusts,  and  cast  them  into  the  Red  Sea  ;  there 
remained  not  one  locust  in  all  the  coasts  of  Egypt,  Exodus  x.  19.  If 
Mr.  Toplady  had  not  forgot  the  mighty  God,  with  whom  Moses  and 
believers  have  to  do,  he  would  never  have  supposed  that  the  com- 
parison holds  good  between  Christ  cleansing  the  thoughts  and  heart  ot 
a  praying  believer  by  the  inspiration  of  his  holy  Spirit,  and  a  inan  who 
can  by  no  means  destroy  the  snakes  and  toads  that  breed,  nestle^  and 
crawl  about  his  estate. 

4.  The  Reverend  Author  of  the  Caveat  sinks  in  this  argument, 
even  below  the  doctrine  of  heathen  moralists.  For,  suppose  the 
extirpation  of  a  vicious  habit  were  considered,  would  not  a  heathen 
be  inexcusable,  if  he  overlooked  the  succour  and  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty  ?  And  what  shall  we  say  of  a  Gospel  minister,  who,  writing 
upon  the  destruction  of  sin,  entirely  overlooks  what  at  other  times  he 
calls  the  sovereign,  matchless,  all- conquering,  irresistible  power  of 
divine  grace,  which  (if  we  believe  him)  is  absolutely  to  do  all  in  m 
and/or  us  ? — Who  insinuates,  that  the  toad,  pride,  and  the  viper,  envy^ 
must  continue  to  nestle  and  crawl  in  our  breasts  for  want  of  ability  to 
«iestroy  them  :  and  who  concludes  that  the  extirpation  of  sin  is  impos- 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  ^71 

sible,  because  we  cannot  bring  it  about  by  our  own  8tren2;th  ?  Just 
as  if  the  power  of  God,  which  helps  our  injirmilies^  did  not  deserve  a 
thought !  Who  does  not  see,  that  when  a  Divine  argues  in  this  manner, 
he  puts  his  bushel  upon  the  light  of  Christ's  victorious  grace,  hides 
this  sin-kiUing  and  heart-cleansing  light,  and  then  absurdly  concludes 
that  the  darkness  of  sin  must  necessarily  remain  in  all  believers  ? 
Thus,  if  I  mistake  not,  it  appears,  that  Mr.  Toplady's  argument  in 
favour,of  the  death  purgatory,  is  contrary  to  history,  experience,  and 
Gentilism ;  and  how  much  more  to  Christianity^  and  to  the  honour  of 
him  who  to  the  uttermost  saves  his  believing  people  from  their  heart- 
toads  and  bosom-vipers,  when  they  go  to  him  lor  this  great  salvation  '• 

The  next  author  who  shall  furnish  me  with  logical  shades,  is  the 
ingenious  and  Rev.  Mr.  Martin^  who  has  just  published  a  plea  for  the 
necessary  indwelling  of  sin  in  all  believers.  He  calls  it,  "  The  Chris- 
tian's peculiar  Conjlict,  An  Essay  on  Galatians  v.  17."  And  from  it  1 
extract  the  arguments  which  tbllovv. 

Arg.  II.  (page  15.)  &c.  "  O  ye  vain  boasters  of  inherent  per- 
fection, say,  Where  is  the  man  among  you  to  be  found,  who  always 
doth  the  things  that  he  would?  If  there  be  one  who  has  this  pre- 
eminence among  his  brethren,  why  should  his  name  be  concealed  ,' 
Is  he  a  preacher  ?  and  dare  he  assert  he  has,  at  all  times,  that  dis- 
covery of  the  truth  to  his  own  soul  he  could  wish,  kc.  Is  he  a 
private  Christian?  and  will  he  venture  to  declare,  that  in  every 
character  he  sustains,  &c.  he  continually  acts  not  only  the  conscien- 
tious part,  but  in  every  respect  fulfils  the  desire  of  his  mind  ?  What  I 
does  he  hesitate  ?  Is  he  afraid  to  attest  this  in  the  presence  of  a 
heart-searching  God  ?  How  deceitful  then  is  his  confidence !  &c. 
Strange  infatuation  !  If  he  cannot  at  all  times  do  the  things,  the  good 
things  that  he  would,  can  he  suppose  his  best  desires  are  more 
extensive  than  that  law  which  is  exceeding  broad  ?  &c.  If  he  can  be 
so  vain  as  to  suppose  this,  there  is  more  hope  of  a  fool  than  of  him, 
who  is  so  wise  in  his  own  conceit.  If  he  disown  the  inference,  and 
yet  maintain  his  premises,  that  he  is  perfect,  i.  e.  without  sin,  has 
ceased  to  commit  iniquity,  what  is  the  conclusion  ?  I  am  obliged  to 
conclude,  that  perfection  and  imperfection,  things  as  contrary  to 
each  other  as  light  and  darkness,  are,  with  such  a  deluded  person, 
considered  as  one  and  the  same  thing." 

This  argument,  stript  of  its  rhetorical  ornaments,  and  put  into  a 
plain,  logical  dress,  runs  thus  : 

♦'  When  Christians  do  not  do  all  the  good  things  which  they  desire 
to  do,  they  sin,  or  break  God's  law,  which  is  purer  and  bronder  than 
their  desires: — But  the  best  ministers,  and  the  best  private  Christians 


272  THE   LAST   CHECK 

ilo  not  do  all  the  good  things  which  they  desire  to  do  :— And  there- 
fore the  best  ministers,  and  the  best  private  Christians  sin,  and  their 
sinless  perfection  is  an  empty  boast."  We  may  bring  the  argument 
into  a  still  narrower  compass,  thus :  *'  All  deficiencies  are  sinful,  and 
therefore  inconsistent  with  every  kind  of  perfection."  Now  this 
proposition,  which  is  the  basis  of  the  whole  argument,  has  error  for 
its  foundation.  Granting  that  deficiencies  are  inconsistent  with  the 
absolute  will  of  God,  and  with  the  perfection  of  his  boundless  power, 
I  affirm  four  things,  each  of  which,  if  I  mistake  not,  overturns  our 
objector's  argument. 

1.  The  separate  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  are  perfectly  sinless ; 
nevertheless  they  do  not  do  all  the  good  that  they  would;  for  they 
have  not  yet  prevailed  to  get  the  blood  of  God's  martyrs  avenged  : — a 
display  of  justice  this,  which  they  ardently  xvish  for.  And  I  prove  it 
by  these  words  of  St.  John  ;  /  saw  under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them 
that  were  slain  for  the  word  of  God,  and  they  cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
saying,  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge,  and 
avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth !  Rev.  vi.  9.  Had 
they  done  what  they  wished,  i.  e.  actually  prevailed  with  God,  their 
prayer  would  have  been  immediately  turned  into  praises,  and  persecu- 
tors would  long  ago  have  been  rooted  out  from  the  earth. 

2.  For  want  of  infinite  wisdom,  does  not  perfect  love  'infinite  crea- 
tures frequently  desire  to  do  more  for  its  object  than  it  can  ?  When 
Michael  fought  with  the  dragon,  is  it  not  highly  probable  that  he  lovingly 
desired  to  hinder  his  cruel  adversary  from  doing  a-ny  farther  mischief? 
But  did  not  his  performance  fall  short  of  his  pious  resigned  desire  ?— 
May  not  this  be  said  also  of  the  guardian  care  of  the  angels  who  minister 
to  the  heirs  of  salvation  ?  Do  these  loving  spirits  afford  us  all  the 
help,  or  procure  us  all  the  bliss,  which  their  tender  compassion 
prompts  them  to  wish  us  ? — If  not;  is  it  not  absurd  to  suppose,  that, 
barely  on  this  account,  they  are  sinfully  imperfect  ?  Nay,  would  it 
not  be  a  high  degree  of  rashness  and  injustice  to  insinuate,  that  they 
are  transgressors  of  God's  spiritual  law  ;  and  that  his  commandment, 
which  is  broader  than  their  desires,  is  broken  by  their  not  doing  us 
all  the  good  which  they  desire  to  do  us,  and  which  they  would  actually 
do  us,  if  a  wise  Providence  ha4  not  set  bounds  to  their  commission? 
Does  not  this  unscriptural  Calvinian  legality  put  the  stamp  of  sinful- 
ness upon  all  angels  and  archangels.,  merely  to  keep  in  countenance 
the  Antinomian  doctrine  of  the  necessary  siifulness  of  all  believers  ? 

3.  If  we  consider  our  Lord  himself  as  a  man,  did  he  do  all  the 
good  he  would  while  he  was  upon  earth  ?  Did  he  preach  as  suc- 
cessfully as  his  perfect  love  made  him  desire  to  do?     If  he  had  all 


T©    ANTINOMIANISM,  273 

th6  dnccess  he  desired  in  his  ministry,  why  did  he  look  round  upon 
his  hearers  with  anger :  being  grieved  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts? 
Whv  did  he  weep  and  complain,  How  often  would  I  have  gathered  you, 
^c.  and  ye  would  not? — Were  even  his  private  instructions  so  much 
blessed  to  his  own  disciples  as  he  could  have  wished?  If  they  were, 
what  meant  these  strange  expostulations,  How  is  it  that  ye  have  no 
faith  ? — Faithless  generation,  how  long  shall  I  be  with  you  ? — Hast  thou 
been  so  long  with  me^  Philip ^  and  has  thou  not  known  me  ? — Will  ye  also 
go  away  ? 

Nay,  had  not  Christ  his  innocent  infirmities  too  ?  Did  he  not  shud- 
der at  the  prospect  of  the  cup  of  trembling!  Needed  he  not  the 
strengthening  support  of  an  angel  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  ?  Did 
he  not  ()ff'er  up  prayers,  with  strong  cryings  and  tears,  unto  him  that 
was  able  to  save  him  from  death?  Was  he  not  heard  in  that  he  feared? 
Heb.  V.  7. — Did  he  not  innocently  cry  out  upon  the  cross.  My  God! 
My  God!  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?  And  does  not  the  apostle 
observe,  that.  We  have  not  an  High  Priest,  who  cannot  be  touched  with 
the  feelings  of  our  infirmities  :  but  [one  who]  was  in  all  points  tempted 
as  we  are,  yet  without  si?i  ?  Heb.  iv.  15.  When  our  opponents  there- 
fore, confound  sin  with  natural,  innocent  infirmities,  or  with  our  not 
doing  all  the  good  we  would,  do  they  not  inadvertently  fix  a  blot  upon 
the  immaculate  character  of  Him  who  could  say  ;  Which  of  you  con- 
vinceth  me  of  sin  ? 

4.  My  pious  opponent  wishes,  no  doubt,  to  praise  God  as  perfectly 
as  an  angel;  whilst  an  angel  probably  desires  to  do  it  as  completely  ae 
an  archangel ;  but  in  the  nature  of  things  this  cannot  be.  Thousand? 
of  God's  moral  vessels,  which  are  perfect  in  their  place  and  degree, 
and  as  such  adorn  God's  universal  temple,  fall  short  of  each  other's 
perfection,  without  being  sinfully  imperfect  on  that  account.  When 
deficiencies  are  natural,  and  not  moral  if  we  call  them  sin,  in  many 
cases  we  charge  God  with  the  creation  of  sin.  Nor  is  it  any  more  sin 
in  a  man,  not  to  magnify  God  so  vifi;orously  as  an  angel,  or  an  angel 
not  to  serve  his  Creator  so  perfectly  as  an  archangel ;  than  it  is  a  sin 
in  a  good  soldier,  not  to  do  the  king  such  excellent  service  as  an 
experienced  captain,  or  a  consummate  general.  In  the  moral  world, 
as  well  as  in  the  natural,  one  star  may  differ  from,  another  star  in  glory, 
without  the  least  disparagement  to  its  peculiar  perfection.  The  inju 
dicious  refinements  of  Calvinism  make  a  confused  jumble  of  God's 
works,  as  they  do  of  God's  truths,  and  of  the  various  perfections  which 
belong  to  the  various  classes  of  his  children  :  but  a  wise  dispenser  of 
the  word  will  do  by  these  various  truths  and  perfections  as  Joseph 
did  by  his  brothers  :  he  placed  them  the  first-horn  anrordinq  fo  his 

Vol.  IV.  3r, 


274  THE   LAST   CHECK 

birthright^  (or  superiority)  and  the  youngest  according  to  his  youth  (or 
inferiority.) 

6.  We  are  not  ashamed  to  assert,  that  perfection  in  one  respect, 
and  imperfection  in  another  respect,  may  consistently  meet  in  the 
same  subject  ;  or,  that  men  and  things  may  be  perfect  in  one  sense 
and  imperfect  in  another.  If  our  opponents  ridicule  us  for  it,  we  will 
present  them  with  an  ocular,  and  by  no  means  "  metaphysical" 
demonstration  of  their  mistake.  Two  perfect  grains,  the  one  of  bar- 
ley, and  the  other  of  wheat,  lie  before  us.  I  say  with  the  perfection- 
ists, that  the  grain  of  barley  i^  perfect  in  its  kind  ;  but  imperfect,  or 
inferior  in  excelknce  when  it  is  compared  to  the  grain  of  wheat. 
But  Mr.  Martin,  at  the  head  of  the  imperfectionists.  thinks  mc 
deluded,  and  placing  himself  in  his  judgment  seat,  gravely  says,  '*  I 
am  obliged  to  conclude  that  perfection  and  imperfection,  things  as  con- 
trary to  each  other  as  light  and  darkness,  are  with  su«:h  a  deluded 
person  considered  as  one  and  the  same." — *'  Some  are  so  unaccount- 
ably absurd  and  ridiculous."— Reader,  thou  art  judge  and  jury. 
Pronounce  which  of  the  two  deserves  best  this  imputation  of  "  unac- 
.  countable  absurdity,"  the  author  of  this  Essay,  or  that  of  the  Essay  on 
Gal.  V.  17. 

6.  With  respect  to  this  gentleman's  triumphant  question,  Where  is 
the  (perfect)  man? — Why  should  his  name  be  concealed?  I  hope  it  has 
already  been  satisfactorily  answered  in  Sect.  IV.  Arg.  XII.  To  what 
is  advanced  there,  I  add  here  the  following  remark.  Inveterate  pre- 
judice is  blind.  If  it  believe  not  reason,  Moses,  the  prophets,  and  the 
apostles,  neither  would  it  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead. 
And  were  we  to  point  at  a  person  as  perfect  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
to  say.  Behold  the  man,  I  should  not  wonder  if  the  prepossessed  pro- 
fessors cried  out,  as  some  ancient  engrossers  of  orthodoxy  did.  He  is 
a  deceiver  of  the  people,  teaching  perfection  throughout  all  Jewry. 
And  if  they  did  not  say.  He  is  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners,  away 
with  him;  it  is  not  improbable  they  would  say,  He  is  a  friend  of  the 
Pharisees  and  Arminians,  why  do  you  hear  him?  Would  ye  also  be  his 
disciples?  It  is  in  vain  to  hope, that  prejudice  expired  with  those  who 
scoffed  at  perfection  incarnate,  and  spit  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ : 
thinking  to  do  God  and  the  Messiah  service.  Man  is  man,  in  London, 
as  well  as  in  Jej^usalem.     Our  Author  goes  on  : 

Arg  III.  (page  18.)  *'  It  is  not  more  essential  to  those  who  are 
partakers  of  the  grace  of  God  in  truth,  to  desire  this,  [the  destruc- 
tion of  sm,]  than  it  is  for  every  creature,  as  such,  to  desire  an  exemp- 
tion from  pain  and  shamed — Then  follows  a  dangerous  insinuation^ 
that  we  must  say  by  the  cup  of  indwelling  sin  as  our  Saviour  did  by 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  275 

the  cup  of  pain  and  shame ;  "  Tlie  cup  that  my  Father  giveth  ?ne,  shall 
I  nut  drink  of  it  ? 

Ans.  Never  was  a  cup  of  subtle  poison  more  artfully  mixed !  And 
that  the  reader  may  not  suspect  any  mischief,  the  author  borrows 
the  very  cup  which  our  heavenly  Father  presented  to  Christ  in  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane  ;  a  cup  of /7am  and  shame.  Reader,  examine 
this  cup  before  thou  drink  it.  Death  is  in  it.  Pour  out  the  new 
wine  which  makes  the  poison  it  contains  palatable,  and  at  the  bottom 
thou  wilt  6nd  this  mortal  sediment.  ''It  is  as  absurd  absolutely  to 
desire  deliverance  from  sin  in  this  hfe,  as  absolutely  to  desire 
deliverance  from  pain  and  shame.'"'  To  discover  the  falsehood  of 
this  proposition  we  need  only  weigh  the  following  remarks.  1. 
Man  mixed  for  himself  the  moral  cup  of  sin,  and  God,  to  punish  him, 
mixed  the  natural  cup  of  pain  and  shame. — 2.  It  is  excessively  wrong 
so  to  confound  moral  and  natural  evil,  as  to  say.  that  because  we 
cannot  with  any  propriety,  absolutely  pray  for  deliverance  from  all 
natural  evil  in  this  life,  we  ought  not  absolutely  to  ask  and  expect 
deliverance  from  all  moral  evil  before  death. — 3.  When  the  Imper- 
fectronists  confound  the  moral  cup  of  sin  with  the  natural  cup  of 
shame  and  pain,  they  are  as  grossly  mistaken,  as  if  they  confounded 
poison  and  counter-poison  ; — sin,  and  its  punishment ; — the  murder- 
er's revengeful  heart,  and  the  gallows  on  which  he  is  hanged. — 4. 
Shame  and  pain,  when  they  are  appointed  for  a  trial  of  faith,  and 
endured  for  righteousness  sake,  compose  the  last  and  greatest  of  all  the 
beatitudes  ;  a  beatitude  this,  of  which  our  Lord  drank  so  deeply,  when 
for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  he  endured  the  pain,  and  despised  the 
shame  of  the  cross,  Heb.  xii.  2.  But  where  was  indivelling  sin  ever 
ranked  among  the  ingredients  which  compose  the  beatitudes,  that  our 
opponents  should  thus  confound  it  with  pain  and  shame? — 5.  When 
they  insinuate,  that  we  must  bear  with  sin  as  patiently  as  with  pain 
and  shame,  the  moral  cup  of  indwelling  iniquity,  as  readily  as  the 
natural  cup  of  outward  affliction,  do  they  not  grossly  confound  the 
cup  of  devils  with  the  cup  of  the  Lord,  and  make  the  simple  believe, 
that  because  we  must  patiently  drink  the  latter  with  Christ,  we  must 
also  patiently  drink  the  former  with  Belial? — The  Captain  of  our 
salvation  bids  us  rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad,  when  we  patiently 
suffer  pain  and  shame  for  righteousness  sake  ;  therefore,  absolutely 
to  deprecate  all  pain  and  sfiame  would  be  to  pray  against  our  exceeding 
great  joy ;  yea,  against  out  reigning  with  Christ:  for  only  if  we  siiffer, 
shall  we  also  reign  with  him.  But  where  does  Christ  bid  us  rejoice 
and  be  exceeding  glad  when  we  are  Oill  of  indwelling  sin  ?  Or  where 
does  he  promise  that  if  we  harbour  indwelling  sin,  we  shall  also  reign 


i27b  THE  LAST  CHECK 

with  him? — Christians,  awake  I  we  pour  out  this  rank  poison  before 
you,  that  you  may  advert  to  its  offensive  smell  :  while  rash  Solitidians 
gather  it  up,  as  if  it  were  the  honey  of  Canaan  ;  boldly  trample  it 
under  foot,  and  be  ye  more  and  more  persuaded,  that  righteousness 
Calvinistically  imputed^  and  indwelling  sin,  are  the  two  arms  in  which 
the  Delilah  of  the  Imperfextionists  clasps  her  deluded  admirers. 

Page  31.  Our  ingenious  author  proposes  an  important  question. 
"  If  the  grace  of  God,  (says  he)  be  so  abundant  as  the  Scriptures 
represent  it,  and  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken  ;  ,why  are  believers 
perniiUt  d  to  struggle  so  long  for  that  victory  they  cannot  yet  obtain  ?" 
that  victory  "  hich  death  is  to  bring  them  ? — "  Whence  is  it  that  they, 
who  pant  for  purity,  should  not  immediately  obtain  a  request  so  desi- 
rable ?" — For  our  author  lays  it  down  as  an  undoubted  truth,  that 
"  Flesh  and  spirit  mutually  lust,  desire  and  strive  to  obtain  a  complete 
conquest,  but  at  present,'^  i.  e.  in  this  life,  "  neither  can  prevail.^^ 
Page  26. 

This  important  question  we  answer  thus.  Imperfect  Christians 
do  not  attain  perfect  purity  of  heart : — 1  Because  they  do  not  see 
the  need  of  it  : — because  they  still  hug  some  accursed  thing,  or 
because  the  burden  of  indwelling  sin  is  not  yet  become  intolerable  to 
them.  They  make  shift  to  bear  it  yet,  as  they  do  the  toothach,  when 
they  are  still  loath  to  have  a  rotten  tooth  pulled  out. — 2.  If  they  are 
truly  willing  to  be  made  clean,  they  do  not  yet  believe  that  the  Lord 
both  can  and  zvill  make  them  clean  ;  or  that  now  is  the  day  of  this  sal- 
vation. And,  as  faith  inherits  the  promises  of  God,  it  is  no  wonder  if 
their  unbelief  miss  this  portion  of  their  inheritance. — 3.  If  they  have 
some  faiih  in  the  promises  that  the  Lord  can,  and  will  circumcise  their 
hearts,  that  they  may  love  him  with  all  their  hearts ;  yet  it  is  not  that 
kind  or  degree  of  faith,  which  makes  them  completely  willing  to  sell 
all,  to  deny  themselves,  faithfully  to  use  their  inferior  talent,  and  to 
continue  instant  in  prayer  for  this  very  blessing.  In  short,  they  have 
not,  because  they  ask  not,  which  is  the  case  of  the  Laodicean  imperfec- 
lionists  ;  or  because  they  ask  amiss,  which  is  the  case  of  the  imperfect 
perfectionists. — 4.  Frequently  also  they  will  receive  God's  blessing 
in  their  own  preconceived  method,  and  not  in  God's  appointed  way. 
Hence  God  suspends  the  operation  of  his  sanctifying  Spirit,  till  they 
humbly  confess  their  obstinacy  and  false  wisdom,  as  well  as  their 
unbelief  and  want  of  perfect  love.  Thus  we  clear  our  Sanctifiery 
and  take  the  shame  of  our  impurity  to  ourselves.  Not  so  our  oppo- 
nents. They  exculpate  themselves,  and  insinuate,  that  God  has 
appointed  the  necessary  continuance  of  indwelling  sin  in  us  for  life,, 
that  the  conflict  which  we  maintain  with  that  enemy  may  answer 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  277 

excellent   ends.     Their  arguments   collected   in   the  above-quoted 
Essay,  are  produced  and  answered  in  the  following  pages. 

Arg.  IV.  (page  37,  kc.)  "  By  this  warfare  the  Lord  manifests 
and  magnifies  himself  to  his  people  ;  and  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  &.c. 
the  continuance  of  it  is  a  mean  by  which  believers  have  such  views 
of  the  perfections  and  glory  of  God,  as  it  does  not  seem  to  us  proba- 
ble, they  could  here  obtain  without  it." — Then  our  author  instances 
in  God's  "  unchanging  love  towards  the  elect,^^  and  in  his  "  sovereign 
grace — that  reigns  through  righteousness  to  the  salvation  of  the  guilty,''^ 
— He  next  observes,  that  "  Those  believers  who  are  most  conscious  of 
this  internal  conflict — most  sensible  of  the  power  and  prevalency  of 
indwelling  sin — are  most  thankful  that  the  endearing  declarations  of 
God^s  distinguishing  love  are  true.''^ — And  [page  39,  40.]  we  are 
distinctly  told  that  the  doctrine  of  the  necessary  continuance  of 
indwelling  sin  magnifies  "  the  power  and  patience  of  God:  the  power 
of  God  to  support  us  under  this  conflict,  and  his  patience  in  bearing 
with  our  manifold  weakness  and  ingratitude." — For,  great  as  the  bur- 
den of  our  ingratitude  is,  "  yet  hefainteth  not,  neither  is  ht  weary.'^ 

This  is  an  extract  of  our  author's  argument,  which,  like  a  snake, 
works  its  way  through  verbose  windings,  where  1  have  not  leisure  to 
follow  it.  Crush  this  snake,  and  out  will  come  this  less  viper  :  the 
longer  sin  continues  in  us,  the  more  God's  sovereign  love,  grace, 
power,  and  patience,  by  which  he  saves  guilty,  weak,  *md  ungrateful 
sinners  is  manifested  unto  us.  Or,  if  you  please,  the  longer  we  con- 
tinue in  sin,  or  the  longer  sin  continues  in  us,  the  more  is  grace  mani- 
fested and  magnified. — Or,  if  you  will  speak  as  the  apostolic  contro- 
vertist,  Let  us  continue  in  sin  that  grace  may  abound. — A  notion  this, 
which  is  the  very  soul  of  Antinomianism  unmasked. 

To  fill  the  pious  reader  with  a  just  detestation  of  this  doctrine,  I 
need  only  unfold  it  thus  :  If  the  continuance  of  indzvelling  sin  magni- 
fies God's  sovereign  grace,  and  patience,  in  saving  ungrateful  sinners  ; 
the  continuance  of  outward  sin  will  do  this  much  more  ;  for,  the 
greater  our  outward  sins  are,  the  greater  will  God's  patience  appear  ia 
bearing  with  us  ;  and  his  grace  in  forgiving  us  ;  seeing  "  hefainteth 
not,  neither  is  he  wcary.'^^  Thus  we  are  come  almost  up  to  the  top  of 
Antinomianism  ;  and,  to  reach  the  highest  step  of  the  fatal  ladder,  we 
need  only  declare,  as  the  author  of  the  Five  Letters,  has  done,  that  a 
grievous  fall  [into  sin,  such  as  adultery,  robbery,  murder,  and  incest,] 
will  make  us  sing  louder  to  the  praise  of  restoring  grace  throughout  all  the 
ages  of  eternity.  [See  the  fourth  of  those  letters.]  Now  if  a  griev- 
ous fall  will  infallibly  have  that  happy  effect,  it  follows  that  ten  such 
jfalls  will  multiply  ten  times  the  display  of  God's  power  and  patience. 


278  THE    LAST    CHECK 

What  a  boundless  field  opens  here  to  run  an  Antinomian  race,  and  to 
enlarge  our  wickedness  as  hell !  What  a  ladder  is  here  lent  us  to  de- 
scend to  the  depth  of  the  abomination  ot  desolation,  in  order  to 
reach  the  loudest  notes  of  praise  in  heaven  !  If  this  Solifidian  Gos- 
pel be  not  one  of  the  depths  of  Satan^  and  the  greatest  too,  I  am  not 
capable  of  discerning  midnight  gloom  from  noonday  brightness. 

Arg.  V.  (page  4.)  "  To  save  the  guilty  in  such  a  manner  as,  &c. 
effectually  to  humble  them  who  are  saved,  displays  the  manifold  wis- 
dom of  God. — Does  it  not  seem  necessary  to  attain  that  great  end,  to 
make  believers  experimentally  know  what  an  evil  and  bitter  thing  sin 
is,  &c.  If  so,  when  can  the  objects  of  salvation  see  this  with  becom- 
ing shame  and  sorrow  !  Not  while  they  are  in  the  gall  of  bitterness^ 
&c.  for  in  that  state,  so  abominable  is  man  that  he  drinkethin  iniquity 
like  watfir. — On  the  other  hand,  this  cannot  be  after  they  are  brought 
to  glory.  For  then  all  the  painful  and  shameful  memorials  of  sin 
will  be  finally  removed. — It  must  be  while  flesh  and  spirit  dwell  in 
the  same  man.^' 

Granted  ;  but  what  has  this  argument  to  do  with  the  question  ?  Did 
we  ever  deny,  that,  as  long  as  we  live,  we  must  repent,  or  be  deeply 
conscious  -what  an  evil  and  bitter  thing  sin  is  ?  The  question  is,  whe- 
ther indwelling  sin  is  the  cause  or  source  of  true  repentance,  or  an 
incentive  to  it  ;  and  whether  God  has  appointed  that  this  should  remain 
in  our  hearts  till  death,  lest  we  should  forsjet  "  what  an  evil  and  bitter 
thing  sin  is."  or  lest  we  shonld  not  remember  it  **  with  becoming  shame 
and  sorrow  ?"  The  absurdity  of  this  plea  has  already  been  exposed  in 
Sect.  III.  Obj.  viii.  ix.  And,  to  the  arguments  there  advanced.  I  now 
add  those  which  follow. — 1.  Does  not  experience  convince  imperfect 
believers,  that  the  more  fretfulness,  self-will  and  obstinacy  they  have 
in  their  hearts,  the  less  they  do  repent  ?  How  absurd  is  it  then  to  sup- 
pose that  the  remains  of  these  evil  dispositions  will  help  them  to 
feel  "  becoming  shame  and  sorrow'*''  for  sin  I — 2.  Do  not  our  opponents 
tell  their  hearers,  that  we  get  more  becoming  shame  and  sorrow  by 
looking  one  moment  at  him  whom  we  have  pierced^  than  by  poring  upon 
our  corruptions  for  an  hour  ?  If  so,  why  will  they  plead  for  indwell- 
ing sin,  that  "  becoming  sin  and  sorrow"  may  abound  ?  And  why  do  they 
pretend  that  they  exalt  Christ  more  than  we,  who  maintain  that  our 
most  becoming  shame  and  deepest  sorrow  flow  from  his  ignominy  and 
sufferings,  and  not  from  our  indwelhng  sin  and  conflicting  corruptions  ? 
—Did  not  Job  abhor  himself^  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes^  when  he  saw 
his  redeeming  God  by  fiiith,  much  more  than  when  he  just  kept  his 
head  above  the  bitter  waters  of  impatience  and  murmuring  ? — 3.  The 
pleaders  for  the  continuanee  of  indwelling  sin  tell  us,  *'  That,  as  the 


T©  ANTINOMIANISM.  279 

sight  and  attacks  of  a  living  and  roaring  lion,  will  make  us  dread  lions 
more  thnn  all  the  descriptions  and  pictures  which  represent  Iheir  de- 
structive lierceness  ;  so  the  feeling  the   onsets  of  indwelling  sin,  will 
make  us  abhor  sin  more  than  all  the  descriptions  of  its  odious  nature, 
and  the  accounts  of  its  fearful  consequences  :  because  a  burnt  child 
naturally  dreads  the  fire."— To  this  we  answer:  a   burnt  child  who 
pleads  for  the  kt^eping  of  a  burning  coal  upon  his  breast  to  make  him 
dread  the  fire,  has  hitherto  been  burned  to  little  purpose. — Who  had 
ever  less  to  do  with  indwelling  sin,   and  its  cursed  attacks,   than  the 
holy  Jesus,  and  faithful  angels '!  And  yet  who  is  more  filled  with  a  per- 
fect abhorrence  of  all  iniquity  ?    On  the  other  hand,  who  has  been 
more  distracted,  and  longer  torn  by  indwelling  sin,  than  the  devil? 
and  who,  nevertheless,  is  better  reconciled  to  it  ?  Or  who  is  more 
plagued  by  the  continual  rendings  and  bitings   of  the  lions  and  vipers 
within,  than  those  passionate,  revengeful  people,  who  say  with  all  the 
positiveness  of  Jonah  and  Absalom,  I  do  well  to  be  angry,  and  Revenge 
is  sweet  ?     Experience  therefore  demonstrates  the  inconclusiveness  of 
this  argument. — 4.   If  the  penitent  thief  properly   learned  in  a  few 
hours,  what  an  evil  and  bitter  thing  external  and  internal  sin  is  ;  is  it 
not  absurd  to  suppose,  that  he  must  have  continued  flirty  years  full  of 
indwelling  sin   to  learn  that  lesson,   if  God  had  added  forty  years  to 
his  life  ?    Would  this  delay  have  been   to  the  honour  of  his  Divine 
Teacher  ? — Lastly,  when  Christ  cast  seven  devils  out  of  Mary  Mag- 
dalen, did  he  leave  one  or  two  devils  behind,  to  teach  her  "  becoming 
shame  and  sorrottj"  for  sin  ?  And  was  it  these  two  remaining  *'  Diabo- 
lonians,^^  that   made   her  dissolve  in  tears  at  Christ's   feet  ;  or  the 
grateful  penitential  love  which  she  felt  for  her  gracious  Deliverer  ? — 
Is  it  not  astonishing,  that  Gospel  ministers  should  so  far  forget  them- 
selves and  their  Saviour,  as  to  teach,  as  openly  as  for  decency  they 
dare,  that  we  must  fetch  our  tears  of  godly  sorrow  from  the  infernal 
lake,  and  rekindle  the  candle  of  repentance  at  the  fire  of  hell  !  And  that 
the  fanning  breath  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  golden,  hallowed  snuffers  of 
the  sanctuviry  cannot  make  that  candle  burn  continually  clear,  unless 
we  u^e  to  the  end  of  our  life,  the  black  finger  of  Sa^an,  indwelling  sin. 
and  Adam's  accursed  extinguisher,  original  corruption.^ 

Arg.  VI.  Our  author's  next  argument  in  favour  of  the  necessary 
indivelling  of  sin  during  lite  is  more  decent,  and  consequently  more 
dangerous.  The  cloven  feet  of  errnr  delicately  wear  the  sandals  of 
truth  :  but  with  a  little  attenticHi  we  sh;dl  soon  see  that  they  jire  only 
borrowed  or  stolen.  The  argument  abridged  froir»  page  44.  and  ren- 
dered more  per9piruon*i,  may  r»in  thus: — '*  If  we  h.ive  frj^qufnlly 
been  slothful,  and  have  not  at  all  times  exerted  our  abihties  to  the 


280  tttE    LAST    CHECK 

uttermost ;  why  may  not  God  it)  wisdom  rebuke  us  for  it,  arid  Efiake 
us  sensible  of  that  evil,  by  not  permitting  us  to  effect  what  at  other 
times,  we  seem  determined,  if  possible,  to  accomplish  ?"  [that  is,  by 
not  permitting  us  utterly  to  aboHsh  the  whole  body  of  sin.] — "  If 
Samson  abuse  his  strength,  it  is  fit  he  should  have  cause  severely 
to  repent  of  his  folly  by  being  deprived  of  it  for  a  season,  and  becom- 
ing as  weak  as  other  men."  Here  we  are  left  to  infer,  that  as  Sam- 
son through  his  unfaithfulness  became  as  weak  as  other  men  for  a  sea- 
son ;  so  all  believers,  on  account  of  their  unfaithfulness,  must  be 
weakened  by  indwelling  sin,  during  the  term  of  life. 

To  this  we  answer,  1.  That  although  believers  frequently  give 
place  to  sloth  and  unfaithfulness,  yet  they  are  no  more  necessitated  t© 
do  it,  than  Samson  was  to  dally  with  Delilah. — 2.  If  the  constant 
indwelling  of  sin  be  a  just  punishment  for  not  making  a  proper  use  of 
the  talent  of  grace  which  God  gives  us,  it  evidently  follows,  that  our 
unfaithfulness,  and  not  a  necessity  appointed  by  God,  is  the  very  worm 
which  destroj's  our  evangelically  sinless  perfection  :  and  the  moment 
our  opponents  grant  this,  they  allow  all  that  we  contend  for  ;  unlegs 
they  should  be  able  to  prove,  that  God  necessitates  us  to  be  unfaithful, 
in  order  to  punish  us  infallibly  with  indwelling  sin  for  life. 

As  for  Samson,  he  is  most  unfortunately  brought  in  to  support  the 
doctrine  ot  the  necessary  indwelling  of  that  weakening  sin,  which  we 
call  inbred  corruption:  and  he  might  be  most  happily  produced  to 
encourage  those  unfaithful  believers,  who,  like  him,  have  not  made  a 
proper  use  of  their  strength  in  time  past:  for  he  outlived  his  penal 
weakness,  and  recovered  the  strength  of  a  perfect  Nazarite  before 
death  ;  witness  his  last  achievement,  which  exceeded  all  his  former 
exploits.  For  it  would  be  highly  absurd  to  suppose  that  he  got  in  a 
death  purgatory  the  amazing  strength  by  which  he  pulled  down  the 
pillars  that  supported  the  large  building  where  the  Philistines  feasted. 
Nor  need  I  the  strength  of  a  logical  Samson,  to  break  the  argumen- 
tative  reeds  which  support  the  temple  of  error,  in  which  the  imper- 
fectionists  make  sport,  to  their  hurt,  with  the  doctrine  of  that  Chris- 
tian Samson,  who,  said,  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  that  strength- 
eneth  me. 

Arg.  VII.  (page  47.)  &;c.  We  are  indirectly  told  [for  pionis 
men  can  utter  gross  Antinomianism  without  the  mask  of  circumlocu- 
tion] that  indwelling  sin  must  continue  in  us,  that  ^^  grace  (may)  not 
only  be  exercised,  but  distinguished  from  all  that  has  only  the  appear- 
ance of  it.  But — how  is  the  true  grace  of  God  to  be  here  distin- 
guished from  that  which  is  but  the  semblance  of  it  ? — By  its  effects — 
a  clear  and  spiritual  discovery  of  the  depravity,  deceit,  and  desperate 


TO  ANTlNOMIANiail.  281 

wickedness  of  our  own  hearts." — And  then  we  are  given  to  under- 
stand, that  lest  we  should  not  be  deeply  convinced  of  that  desperate 
-wickedness,  the  continuance  of  indwelling  sin  is  absolutely  necessary. 
This  argument  runs  into  the  fifth,  which  I  have  already  answered.  It 
is  another  indirect  plea  for  the  continuance  of  outward  adultery  and 
murder,  as  well  as  for  the  continuance  of  indwelling  sin;  it  being 
certain  that  outward  adultery,  &c.  will  convince  us  of  the  desperate 
wickedness  of  our  hearts,  still  more  powerfully  than  heart  adultery, 
iic.  To  what  hard  shifts  are  good  men  put,  when  they  fight  for  the 
continuance  of  the  bud  or  root  of  any  sin  ?  Their  every  stroke  for 
sin  is  a  stab  at  the  very  vitals  of  godliness. 

Arg.  VHI.  (page  48.)  The  continuance  of  indwelling  sin, 
which  is  (with  great  modesty  in  the  ingenious  author,  and  therefore 
with  great  danger  to  the  unwary  reader)  called  "  this  warfare,^*  is 
supported  by  the  following  reason.  "  It  is  often  an  occasion  to  dis- 
cover the  strength  of  grace  received,  as  well  as  the  truth  of  it." 
This  argument  is  all  of  a  piece  with  the  preceding,  and  puts  me  in 
mind  of  a  speech  which  a  shameless  young  debauchee  made  once  to 
me.  I  kept  (said  he)  drinking  and  dosing  in  such  a  tavern,  without 
ever  going  to  bed,  or  ever  being  sober  one  hour  for  twenty-three 
d.iys.  I  never  had  so  remarkable  an  occasion  to  discover  the  strength 
of  ray  body,  and  the  excellence  of  my  constitution."  However,  in 
a  few  months,  while  he  continued  in  the  conclusion  to  discover  his 
strength,  a  mortal  disorder  seized  upon  him,  and  by  removing  him 
into  eternity,  taught  me,  that  if  Fulsome  the  professor,  speaks  the 
truth,  when  he  says.  Once  in  grace  always  in  grace ;  Nabal,  the  sot, 
was  mistaken,  when  he  hinted,  Onc€  in  health  always  in  health.  To 
make  the  Imperfectionists  ashamed  of  this  argument,  1  hope  I  need 
only  observe  : — 1.  That  nothing  ever  showed  more  the  strength  of 
grace  than  the  conflicts  which  the  man  Christ  Jesus  went  through, 
though  he  never  conflicted  a  moment  with  indwelling  sin. — 2.  That 
the  strength  and  excellence  of  a  remedy  is  much  better  discovered 
by  the  removal  of  the  disorder  which  it  is  designed  to  cure,  than  by 
the  conflicts  which  the  poor  patient  has  with  pain,  till  death  comes  to 
terminate  his  misery. — And  3.  that  the  argument  I  refute  indirectly 
represents  Christ  as  a  physician,  who  keeps  his  patients  upon  the 
rack  to  render  himself  more  necessary  to  them,  and  to  shoiv  the 
strength  of  the  anodyne  mixture,  by  which  he  gives  them,  now  and 
then,  a  little  ease  under  their  continued,  racking  pain ! 

Our  author  adds,  page  49.  **  If  those  who  bear  the  heaviest  burdens, 
are  sometimes  esteemed  the  strongest  men,  they  who  are  thus  engaged  in 
this  warfare^'  (I  wish  he  would  speak  quite  ent.  and  say.  They  who 

Vor.  TV  f^f^ 


282  THE  LAST  CHECK 

bear  the  heaviest  burden  of  indwelling  sin)  "  have  that  evidence  of 
the  strength  of  grace ^  ^c.  which  is  peculiar  to  themselves.^''  A  great 
mistake  this  :  for  if  we  may  believe  Ovid,  when  Medea  murdered 
her  own  child,  under  a  severe  conflict  with  indwelling  sin,  she  had 
that  fatal  evidence  of  what  is  here  preposterously  called  the  strength 
of  grace  ;  but  what  I  beg  leave  to  call  the  obstinacy  of  free  will.  Sed 
trahit  invitam  nova  vis,  &lc.  "  Passion,  (said  she,)  hurries  away  my 
unwilling,  reluctant  mind.^^  Judas,  it  seems,  was  not  an  utter  stranger 
to  this  conflict  (any  more  than  to  the  burden  of  guilt,)  when  he  hur- 
ried out  of  it  into  a  death  purgatory.  Nor  do  I  blame  him  for  having 
chosen  strangling  rather  than  life,  if  death  can  terminate  the  misery 
which  accompanies  indwelling  sin,  and  do  more  in  that  respect  for 
fallen  believers  than  Christ  himself  ever  did.  But,  supposing  that  the 
saving  gface  of  God,  which  has  appeared  to  all  men,  never  appeared 
to  Medea  and  Judas; — supposing  these  two  sinful  souls  never  co»- 
flicted  with  indwelling  sin,  it  will  however  follow  from  our  author's 
insinuation,  that  in  case  David  had  defiled  half  a  dozen  married 
women,  and  killed  their  husbands,  to  enjoy  them  without  a  rival,  we 
should  esteem  him  six  times  stronger  in  grace,  if  he  had  not  fainted 
under  his  six-fold  burden,  like  Judas ;  because  "  in  this  [Antinomian] 
warfare,  tliose  who  hear  the  heaviest  burdens  are  esteemed  the  strongest"*^ 
believers  :  and  because  *'  they  have  that  testimony  of  their  love  t9 
Christ,  which  is  peculiar  to  themselves.''^  If  Satan  were  to  transform 
himself  into  an  angel  of  light,  could  he  preach  a  more  dangerous  and 
immoral  Gospel  to  an  Antinomian  and  perverse  generation  ? 

Arg.  IX. — Our  author's  last  argument  in  favour  of  the  neces- 
sary continuance  of  sin  in  us,  occurs  page  61.  and  runs  thus  : — "  I 
will  only  add,  that  by  this  warfare,  the  Lord  weans  his  people  from 
the  present  evil  world,  and  makes  them  long  for  the  land  of  promise, 
as  the  land  of  rest,  &c.  I  know  some  will  say,  This  is  impossible  : 
and  be  ready  to  ask.  Are  we  then  debtors  to  </ie  ^es^  .^"— ( A  very 
proper  question  !  whic]i  the  author  answers  thus  :)  *'  By  no  means.. 
&c.  In  our  flesh  dwells  no  good  thing,  &c.  &c.  Nevertheless — he 
[God]  can  and  does  make  the  presence  of  evil  so  irksome  to  the 
believer,  that  it  makes  him  ardently  long  for  complete  deliverance 
from  it." — That  is,  in  plain  English,  he  keeps  his  patients  so  long 
upon  the  rack  of  their  indwelling  sin,  that  at  last  they  are  forced  to 
long  for  death,  the  great  cleanser  from  heart  iniquity.  This  argu- 
ment would  have  been  complete,  if  it  had  been  supported  by  these 
two  passages,  /  do  well  to  be  angry  even  unto  death : — in  those  days, 
men,  [plagued  by  the  locusts  which  ascend  out  of  the  bottomless  pit] 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  283 

ihall  desire  to   die,  and  death   shall  flee  from  them.     To  show  its 
absurdity  I  need  only  make  two  or  three  remarks  upon  it. 

1.  Mark  the  inconsistency  of  our  opponents.  When  they  hear  us 
press  obedient  faith  upon  a  fiUlen  or  wavering  behever,  by  mentioning 
to  him  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  the  fear  of  losing  the  divine  favour, 
and  the  danger  of  being  even  spewed  out  of  Christ's  mouth,  and  con- 
demned  without  mercy  if  he  show  no  mercy  ;  they  say  that  enforcing 
the  love  of  Christ  on  a  disobdient  believer  will  abundantly  answer  all 
the  good  ends  which  we  propose  by  thus  preaching  Christ's  law 
but,  when  they  plead  for  the  cojitinuance  of  sin,  they  forget  their  own 
doctrine,  and  tell  us  that  ind'jtelling  sin  is  necessary  to  keep  us  in  the 
way  of  duty,  namely,  in  an  ardent  longing  for  heaven.  They  blame 
us  for  making  use  of  Christ's  law  to  spur  believers,  and  yet  they, 
(see  to  what  astonishing  height  their  partiality  is  grown  !)  they  do  not 
blush  to  preach  openly  the  law  of  sin  to  believers  :  insisting  that  its 
working  in  their  members  is  necessary  to  "  make  them  long  for  the 
land  of  promise,  as  for  the  land  of  rest,  and  for  the  speedy  possession 
of  that  great  good  which  God  has  laid  up  for  them  :"  Page  52. — 
We  are  heretics  for  preaching  the  law  of  Christ,  the  law  of  liberty  '. 
they  who  preach  the  law  of  sin,  the  law  of  bondage,  are  orthodox, 
and  engross  to  themselves  the  glorious  title  of  Gospel  ministers  ! 

2.  How  absurd  is  it  to  prop  up  the  throne  of  indwelling  sin  in 
the  hearts  of  believers,  that  its  tyrannical  law  may  make  them  long 
for  heaven!  Did  not  Christ  long  for  heaven  without  indwelling  sin  ? 
Do  not  the  holiest  believers,  who  are  most  free  from  indwelling  sin, 
long  most  for  the  beatitic  vision  ?  And  do  we  not  see  that  fallen 
believers,  who  are  most  filled  with  indzvelling  sin,  are  most  apt  to  be 
lovers  of  sin  and  the  world,  more  than  lovers  of  God  and  heaven  ?  Are 
they  not  the  very  people,  who,  unmindful  of  Lot's  wife,  stay  in  the 
plain,  instead  of  escaping  for  their  life,  and  fleeing  to  the  celestial 
mount  of  God,  without  ever  looking  behind  them  ? 

3.  Is  not  indwelling  sin  a  clog,  rather  than  a  spur,  to  the  heavenly 
racers  ?  If  sin  be  of  such  service  to  us,  to  make  us  run  the  career  of 
holy  longing  after  heavenly  rest,  why  does  the  apostle  exhort  us  to 
^et  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  does  so  easily  beset  us  ?  If  we 
want  a  spur  to  make  us  mend  our  pace,  need  we  keep  the  spur, 
indwelling  sin? — Is  it  not  more  likely  to  spur  us  to  hell  than  to  hea- 
ven? If  we  have  thousands  of  sinless  spurs,  what  need  have  we  of 
keeping  that  to  drive  us  to  heaven,  which  drove  Adam  behind  the 
trees  of  the  garden  ;  not  to  say,  out  of  his  native  paradise  ? 

If  you  ask.  What  are  the  sinless  spurs  of  believers  ?  We  reply,  all 
♦he  toils,  infirmities,  and  pains  of  our  weary,  decaying,  mortal  bodies  : 


284  THE    LAST    CHECK 

— All  the  troubles,  disappointments,  and  sorrows,  which  arise  aa 
naturally  out  of  our  present  circumstances,  as  sparks  do  out  of  the 
6re  ; — A  share  of  the  dreadful  temptations  which  harassed  Christ  in 
the  wilderness  :  and  frequent  tastes  of  the  bitter  cup  which  made 
him  sweat  blood  in  the  garden,  and  cry  out  on  Calvary. — Hear  one, 
to  whom  our  opponents  absurdly  give  the  spur  o{  indwelling  sm,  as  if 
he  had  not  spurring  enough  without  it :  I  Jill  up  that  which  is  behind 
of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  my  flesh;  Col.  i.  24.  And  surely  indwell- 
ing sin  was  never  one  of  Christ's  afflictions. — Again,  Who  shall  sepa- 
rate us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  Shall  it  be  tribulation^  or  distress^  or 
persecution^  or  famine^  or  nakedness^  or  perils  or  sword  ?  As  it  is 
written^  For  thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the  day  long :  we  are  accounted 
as  sheep  for  the  slav^hfer. — Once  more  :  some  were  tortured,  not 
accepting  deliverance,  and  others  had  trials  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourge 
ings^  yea  moreover  of  bonds  and  imprisonment.  They  were  stoned,  they 
were  sawn  asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword :  they 
wandered  about  in  sheepskins,  and  goatskins,  being  destitute,  afflicted^ 
tormented ;  they  wandered  in  deserts  and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens 
and  caves  of  the  earth. 

I  grant  that  all  true  believers  have  not  these  thorns  in  the  flesh, 
and  feel  not  the  spurs  which  made  Elijah  flee  for  his  life  before 
incensed  Jezebel,  and  request  that  he  might  die  under  the  juniper-tree ; 
but,  at  the  best  of  times,  they  have,  or  should  have,  David's  affliction. 
My  eyes  run  down  with  water  because  men  keep  not  thy  law : — They 
have,  or  should  have,  Jeremiah's  grief,  0  that  my  head  were  waters, 
and  mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for 
the  desolation  of  Jerusalem,  or  for  the  slain  of  the  daughter  of  God's 
people! — They  have,  or  should  have,  the  sorrow  o^just  Lot,  who  was 
vexed  from  day  to  day  with  the  filthy  conversation  of  the  wicked  among 
whom  he  dwelt.  To  suppose,  therefore,  that  in  this  vale  of  tears,  tri- 
bulation,  and  sin,  we  need  keep  the  sting  of  indwelling  sin,  because 
we  must  strive  against  the  sin  which  is  in  the  world  to  the  end,  even 
unto  blood,  if  we  are  called  to  secure  the  crown  of  martyrdom ; — or 
because  it  '*2S  the  will  of  God,  that  through  much  tribulation  we  should 
enter  the  kingdom;^''  [page  46,]  and  because  we  should  long  for  heaven  : 
to  suppose,  I  say,  that  we  must  keep  the  sting,  indwelling  sin,  on 
these  accounts,  is  as  absurd  as  to  suppose,  that  all  the  keepers  and 
nurses  in  Bedlam  must  be  mad,  and  must  continue  to  be  plagued  with 
personal  lunacy,  lest  they  should  not  strive  against  madness  to  the 
end  :— lest  they  should  not  come  out  of  great  disturbances  when  they 
remove  from  their  dreary  habitation  ; — and  lest,  while  they  continue 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  285 

there,  they  should  not  see  mad  people  enough  to  make  them  long  for 
the  conversation  of  reasonable  persons. 

Arg.  X.  (page  52.)  Our  author  closes  his  shrewd  plea  for  the 
death  purgatory,  by  proposing  a  very  material  objection  :  *'  If  any 
exclaim  and  say,  These  sentiments  have  a  tendency  to  reconcile 
believers  to  sin  :  I  must  say, — The  flesh  might  as  soon  be  reconciled 
to  the  spirit,  as  the  spirit  to  the  flesh  ;  or  sin  to  grace,  as  grace  to  sin. 
It  is  often  said.  That  nature  will  be  nature.  And  why  may  not 
this  be  applied  to  the  divine  nature — of  which  believers  are  said  to 
be  partakers  ?"  Hence  our  author  insinuates,  that  the  divine  nature 
of  believers  is  "  immutable  ;^^  and  that,  because  to  will  is  present  with 
them,  when  they  sin  they  still  retain  God's  holiness,  as  "  lions  and 
eagels,  however  confined  or  caressed^  retain  their  ferocity  and  brutal 
appetites. 

I  am  glad  to  see  that  this  pious  author  has  still  the  cause  of  holi- 
ness at  heart,  and  desires  to  stop  up  the  Antinomian  gap.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  he  intends  to  do  God  service  by  pleading  for  the  continu- 
ance of  indwelling  sin.  If  he  ask  for  the  reprieve  of  that  robber 
and  murderer,  it  is  merely  because  Antinomianism  has  deceived  him, 
as  formerly  Pharisaism  deceived  the  Jews  who  cried,  Release  unto  vs 
Barabbas.  If  he  saw,  that  Christ  in  us  must  be  crucified  afresh,  in 
case  the  robber  in  us  is  not  put  to  death  ;  I  doubt  not  he  would  be 
as  sorry  for  his  publication,  as  the  devout  Jews  were  for  their  anti- 
christian  request,  when  they  were  pricked  to  the  heart  on  the  day  of 
pentecost. 

But  alas  !  if  a  good  intention  excuse  bad  performances,  it  does  not 
stop  their  mischief.  The  very  desire  which  our  author  evidences 
to  secure  godliness  is  so  unfortunately  expressed,  that  it  gives  her  as 
fatal  a  blow  as  the  tempter  did,  when  he  said  to  our  first  parents,  Yr 
shall  not  surely  die.  For,  when  that  gentleman  intimates  to  fallen 
believers.  Ye  are  possessed  of  the  divine  nature  ;  and,  be  your  works 
what  they  will,  if  to  will  be  "  in  some  degree  present^''''  (page  54.)  ye 
are  as  much  possessed  of  God's  holy  image,  as  a  lion  is  possessed  of  a 
lion's  fierce  nature  :  what  is  this,  but  to  preach  the  very  Gospel 
which  the  serpent  preached  in  paradise  ;  with  this  diflerence,  that 
the  serpent  said,  Ye  shall  not  die  :  Ye  shall  be  as  gods :  but  the  imper- 
fectionists  say.  Your  salvation  is  finished  ;  ye  have  already  the  "  im- 
mutable nature"  of  God  :  Ye  are  already  as  gods? — Adam  believed 
the  tempter,  and  lost  his  holy  nature.  The  Imperfectionists  believe 
our  author.  Oh!  may  none  of  them  remain  "immutable"  in  the 
sinful  imperfection  which  he  so  earnestly  contends  for. 


2^6  THE  LAST  CHECK 

XI.  A  Caveat.  Having  said  so  much  upon  our  author's  mistakes, 
I  should  be  inexcusable  if  I  did  not  drop  a  caution  about  the  veil  with 
which  they  are  covered.  His  book  goes  into  the  world  under  the 
harmless  title  of  '*  The  Christianas  peculiar  Conflict  ;^^  whereas  it 
should  be  called,  A  Plea  for  the  propriety  and  usefulness  of  the  continu- 
ance of  indwelling  sin  in  all  Christians.  This  plain,  artless  title, 
would  have  made  true  Christians  stand  upon  their  guard  ;  but  now 
they  take  up  without  suspicion  the  cup  mixed  by  the  author  :  and  it  is 
well  if  some  have  not  already  drank  it  to  the  dregs,  without  fear. 

An  illustration  will  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  wisdom  with 
which  the  title  of  the  Essay  is  contrived. — I  write  a  treatise  full  upon 
the  advantage  of  a  standing  rebellion  in  the  kingdom,  and  urge  a 
variety  of  plausible  arguments  to  show  the  great  good  that  will 
arise  from  an  inveterate  opposition  to  the  government.  "  If  a  spirit 
of  rebellion  ceases  in  any  subject,  the  king's  patience,  mercy,  love, 
and  power  will  not  be  so  fully  displayed,  nor  will  the  loyalty  of  his 
good  subjects  be  so  well  distinguished  and  proved  : — Rebellion,  and 
the  burdens  that  attend  it,  will  make  us  long  for  peace  : — Guilty, 
ungrateful  rebels  will  love  the  king  and  admire  his  mercy  the  more 
when  they  are  forgiven  after  their  manifold  rebellions.  And  there- 
fore [to  use  the  unguarded  words  of  our  author,  page  53,]  it  becomes 
its  seriously  to  consider  how  far  this  great  end  [of  a  spirit  of  rebel- 
lion continually  dwelling  in  every  Briton's  breast]  is  understood, 
approved,  and  answered^'' — I  show  my  manuscript  to  a  friend,  who 
says  ;  Your  Essay  will  alarm  every  well-wisher  to  the  constitution  of 
the  realm.  But  I  remove  his  objection  by  saying,  I  will  not  call  it 
'  An  Essay  on  the  propriety  and  usefulness  of  a  spirit  of  rebellion 
constantly  harboured  in  the  breast  of  every  one  of  his  Majesty's 
subjects  :"  but  I  will  call  it,  "  The  Loyal  Subject's  peculiar  Conflict, 
An  Essay  on  1  Sam.  xii.  19."  and  this  plausible  title  will  modestly 
make  way  for  my  boldest  arguments.  Pleas  for  the  continuance  of 
rebellion  and  indwelling  sin,  may  properly  enough  be  introduced  by 
such  a  stratagem. 


TO  AI/TINOMIANISM.  287 


SECTION  XV. 


3Ir.  Hill  objects  that  the  Doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection  is  Popish  ; 
and  the  Author  shows^  that  it  is  truly  Evangelical,  and  stands  insepa- 
rably connected  with  the  cordial  Obedience  required  by  the  mediatorial 
Laws  of  Moses  and  Christ ;  insomuch  that  there  is  absolutely  no  medium 
between  the  Doctrine  of  an  evangelically  sinless  Perfection,  and  lawless 
Antinomianism. — This  Section  contains  a  Recapitulation  of  the  Scrip- 
ture proof  s  of  the  Doctrine  maintained  in  these  Sheets;  and  therefore 
the  careful  perusal  of  it  is  humbly  recommended  to  the  Reader. 

Having  taken  my  leave  of  the  ingenious  Author  of  The  Christian^ 
peculiar  Conflict,  I  return  to  Mr.  Hill,  who  hy  this  time  meets  me 
with  his  Review  in  his  hand,  and  with  that  theological  sling,  casts  at 
our  doctrine  a  stone  which  has  indeed  frightened  thousands  of  weak 
souls,  but  has  never  done  any  execution  amongst  the  judicious.  Your 
doctrine,  says  he,  "  is  a  Popish  Doctrine  ;"  and  he  might  have  added, 
with  as  much  reason,  that  it  is  a  Pelagian  doctrine  too  :  for,  bold  aS 
Pelagius  and  some  Popes  have  been  in  coining  new  doctrines,  they 
never  came  to  such  a  pitch  of  boldness,  as  to  say  that  they  were  the 
authors  of  the  doctrine  of  evangelical  obedience,  and  of  those  com 
mandments,  which  bind  us  to  love  God — our  covenant  God,  with  all 
our  hearts,  and  our  neighbours  as  ourselves  :  precious  Gospel  com- 
mandments these,  upon  which  the  doctrine  of  perfection  securely 
rests ! 

What  Pope  was  ever  silly  enough  to  pretend  that  he  wrote  the  book 
of  Deuteronomy,  where  we  find  this  sweet  evangelical  law,  Hear,  O 
Israel:  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  'thy  might.  And  these  words  which  I  command 
thee  this  day  shall  be  in  thy  heart — [to  do  them  I  suppose,  and  not  to 
ridicule  them  under  the  names  of  perfection  and  Popery?]  Dent,  vi- 
5,  6.  Now  by  what  argument  will  Mr.  Hill  prove  that  the  Pope  is  the 
inventor  of  this  blessed  doctrine  ? 

Should  that  gentleman  reply,  that  when  God  gave  his  ancient 
people  this  gracious  law  of  perfection,  he  did  not  give  it  with  an  inten- 
tion that  they  should  personally  keep  it  as  an  evangelical  law  ;  but 
only  with  an  intention  to  drive  them  to  the  promised  Messiah,  who 
was  to  keep  it  for  them,  and  to  give  eternal  indulgences  to  all  the 
believers  who  break  it ;  we  demand  a  proof;  and  till  Mr.  Hill  pro- 
duce it,  we  show  his  mistake  by  the  following  arguments,    i .  Although 


^iSiJ  THE  LAST  CHECK 

the  Jewish  dispensation  revealed  a  gracious  God^  abundant  in  good- 
ness, mercy,  and  truth,  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin,  to 
returning  sinners,  who  penitentiaily  laid  hold  on  his  Jewish  covenant ; 
yet,  if  I  remember  right,  it  never  promised  to  accept  of  an  obedience 
performed  by  another.  Hence  it  is,  that  God  never  commanded  that 
^QVihh  females  should  be  circumcised  ;  but  confined  his  ordinance  to 
the  males,  who  alone  could  personally  obey  it.  We  frequently  read 
of  vicarious  sufferings  in  the  Jewish  Gospel,  but  not  of  vicarious 
obedience,  and  vicarious  love.  For  although  the  obedience  of  godly 
parents  engaged  God  to  bestow  many  blessings  upon  their  children  ; 
yet  the  children  were  to  obey  for  themselves,  or  to  be  cut  off  in  the 
end.  The  Jews  were  undone  by  a  conceit  of  the  contrary  doctrine, 
and  by  wild  notions  about  the  obedience  of  Abraham,  and  the  holiness 
of  the  temple  which  they  fancied  was  imputed  to  them  in  the  Calvinian 
way  :  and  a  similar  mistake,  it  is  to  be  feared,  still  undoes  multi- 
tudes of  Christians,  who  fatally  mistake  the  nature  of  Christian 
obedience,  absurdly  put  on  robes  of  self-imputed  righteousness,  and 
rashly  bespatter  the  robes  of  personal,  and  evangelically  perfect 
obedience,  which  God  requires  of  every  one  of  us. 

2.  The  mistake  I  expose  would  never  have  been  made  by  our 
opponents,  if  they  had  not  used  themselves  to  tear  the  evangelically 
legal  part  of  the  Scriptures  from  the  context,  in  order  to  give  it  a 
sense  contrary  to  that  of  the  Sacred  Writers  ;  it  being  certain  that 
when  you  have  torn  a  man's  tongue  out  of  his  mouth,  you  may  after- 
ward force  it  down  his  throat,  and  leave  it  there  with  the  root  against 
his  teeth  and  the  tip  towards  his  stomach.  To  show  that  the  precept 
of  perfect  love,  which  I  have  quoted  from  Deut.  vi.  is  treated  in  this 
manner,  as  often  as  our  opponents  insinuate,  God  did  not  intend,  that 
Jewish  believers  should  personally  observe  it  as  a  term  of  final  accept- 
ance, but  only  that  they  should  be  driven  thereby  to  the  Mediator, 
who  should  perfectly  love  God  for  them :— To  show,  I  say,  the 
absurdity  of  this  notion,  we  need  only  do  Moses  the  justice  to  hear 
him  out.  Let  any  unprejudiced  person  read  the  whole  chapter,  and 
he  will,  I  am  persuaded,  side  against  the  Calvinian  imputation  of  a 
Jewish  perfection  to  Jewish  believers.  Moses  begins  by  saying,  Nor(» 
these  are  the  commandments — which  the  Lord  your  God  [yours  through 
an  evangelical  covenant]  commanded  to  teach  you,  that  ye  might  do 
them,  [and  not  that  your  Mediator  might  do  them  for  you]  Deut.  vi.  1. 
Two  verses  after  he  adds.  Hear,  0  Israel,  and  observe  and  do,  [Not 
hear,  O  Israel,  and  another  shall  observe  and  do  for  thee,]  that  it  may 
be  well  with  thee.  Then  comes  our  capital  doctrine  and  precept  of 
perfect  love,  which  a  few  verses  below.  Moses  continues  (o  enforce 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  '  289 

thus:  Ye  shall  not  tempt  the  Lord  your  [covenant]  God. — You  shall 
diligently  keep  the  [evansjelical]  commands  of  the  Lord  your  [covenant] 
God  ;  and  his  [Gospel]  testimonies^  which  he  has  commanded  thee.  .Ind 
thou  shalt  do  that  which  is  right  and  good  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  thy 
God.  that  it  may  he  well  with  thee. — And  when  thy  son  asketh  thee,  sayings 
What  do  mean  these  statutes  [of  perfect  love,  &c.]  Then  thou  shalt  say 
unto  thy  son.,  We  were  Pha/rnoli's  bondmen  in  Egypt,  and  the  Lord 
brought  us  out. — And,  lest  Antinomian  hands  should,  draw  the  golden 
nail  of  this  perfect  obedience  for  want  of  proper  clenching ;  this 
precious  chapter,  which  our  Church  has  properly  selected  for  a 
Sunday  lesson,  ends  with  these  words,  which  must  raise  a  blush  on 
the  face,  or  strike  conviction  into  the  breast,  of  all  who  trample 
under  foot  the  robes  of  our  own  evangelical  perfection  ;  And  the  Lord 
commanded  us  to  do  all  these  statutes, — thai  he  might  preserve  us  alive  : 
and  it  shall  be  our  ri^hreousness  [our  Gospel  perfection]  if  we  observe 
to  do  all  these  commandments^  before  the  Lord  our  [covenant]  God,  as 
he  has  commanded  us,  Deut.  vi.  1 — 25. 

If  our  opponents  say,  that  this  is  a  transcript  of  Adam's  anti-media- 
torial law  of  paradisiacal  perfection  ;  and  not  a  copy  of  Moses's  medi- 
atorial law  of  Jewish  perfection  :  or  if  they  assert  that  Moses  Calvin* 
istically  hints  that  the  Jews  were  to  keep  this  law  by  proxy,  they  may 
say  that  li£;ht  is  darkness.  And  if  they  grant  that  Moses  was  no  Anti- 
nomian shuffler,  but  really  meant  what  he  spoke  and  wrote,  it  unavoid- 
ably follows  : — 1.  That  God  really  required  of  every  Jew  an 
evangelical  and  personal  perfection  of  love  according  to  the  degree 
of  light  and  power  imparted  under  the  Jewish  dispensation.  2.  That 
this  evangelical  Jewish  perfection  of  love  was  attainable  by  every 
sincere  Jew  ;  because  whatever  God  requires  of  us  in  a  covenant  of 
grace,  he  graciously  engages  himself  to  help  us  to  perform,  if  we  be- 
lieviogly  and  obediently  embrace  his  promised  assistance. — And  3. 
That  if  an  evangelical  perfection  of  love  was  attainable  under  the 
Jewish  Gospel  [for  the  Gospel  was  preached  to  the  Jews,  as  well  as  to  us, 
although  not  so  clearly.  Heb.  iv.  2.]  it  is  absurd  to  deny  that  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  requires  less  perfection,  or  makes  less  provision, 
that  Christians  may  attain  what  their  dispensation  calls  them  to. 

If  Mr.  Hill  think  that  this  inference  is  not  just,  I  refer  him  to  our 
Lord's  declaration  :  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  and  the 
prophets  ;  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil :  first,  by  perfectly  obey- 
ing myself  the  two  great  moral  precepts  of  Moses  and  the  prophets  j 
and  next  by  teaching  and  helping  all  my  faithful  disciples  to  do  the 
same,  Matt.  v.  17.  Should  that  nentleman  object  to  the  latter  part  of 
this  little  commentj  because  it  leaves  no  room  for  the  Calvinian  impii- 

Vol.  IV.  37 


290  THE   LAST    CHECK 

tation  of  Christ's  mediatorial  perfection  to  fallen  believers,  who  sleep 
in  irnpeniteacy,  under  the  guilt  of  adultery,  covered  by  murder :  we 
reply,  that  this  part  of  our  exposition,  far  from  being  forced,  is  highly 
agreeable  to  the  text,  when  it  is  taken  in  connexion  with  the  scope  of 
our  Lord's  sermon  and  with  the  context.     For, 

I.  All  Christ's  sermons,  and  especially  that  upon  the  Mount,  incul- 
cate the  doctrine  of  personal  perfection,  and  not  the  doctrine  of 
imputed  perfection,  2.  The  very  chapter  out  of  which  this  text  is 
taken,  ends  with  these  words.  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your 
Father,  which  is  in  heaven,  is  perfect.  And  Mr.  Hill,  prejudiced  as  he 
is  against  our  doctriilie,  is  too  candid  to  assert,  that  our  Lord  meant, 
"  Be  ye  perfect'as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect : — Now  he  is  perfect 
only  by  the  Calvinian  imputation  of  my  righteousness  :  it  is  merely 
by  imputation  that  he  makes  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good. 
And  he  sendeth  only  a  Calvinistically  imputed  rain  upon  the  just  and 
upon  the  unjust.  Be  ye  therefore  perfect  only  by  the  imputation  of  my 
perfect  righteousness." 

Mr.  HilPs  mistake  has  not  only  no  countenance  from  the  distant 
part  of  the  context,  but  it  is  flatly  contrary  to  the  words  which  imme- 
diately follow  the  controverted  text.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  [that, 
far  from  being  come  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets,  that  is,  the 
spirituality  and  strictness  of  the  moral  part  of  the  Jewish  Gospel]  till 
heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the 
law,  [which  Pharisaic  glosses  have  unnerved]  till  all  be  fulfilled.  And 
lest  you  should  think  that  I  speak  of  your  fulfilling  this  law  by  proxy 
and  imputation,  I  add,  Whosoever  shall  break  one  of  these  cominand- 
jnents,  [which  I  am  going  to  enforce  upon  you,  as  viy  own  mediato- 
rial law  ;  though  hitherto  you  have  considered  them  only  as  Moseses 
mediatorial  law]  whosoever,  I  say,  shall  break  one  of  these  least  com- 
mandments, and  [by  precept  and  example]  teach  men  so  :  he  shall  be  call- 
ed the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven:  [If  he  have  any  place  among 
my  people  in  my  spiritual  kingdom,  it  shall  be  only  among  my  car- 
nal babes,  who  are  the  least  of  my  subjects.]  But  whosoever  shall  do  and 
teach  them  [the  commandments  whose  spirituality  I  am  going  to  assert] 
the  same  shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  [he  shall  be 
an  adult,  perfect  Christian  in  the  kingdom  of  my  grace  here  ;  and 
he  shall  receive  a  proportionable  crown  of  righteousness  in  the 
kingdom  of  my  glory  hereafter.]     Matt.  v.  18,  19. 

If  1  am  not  mistaken  it  evidently  follows  from  these  plain  words  of 
Christ,  I.  That  he  taught  a  personal />er/edio;i,  and  mi  evangelically 
sinless  perfection  too  : — 2.  That  this  perfection  consists  in  not  break- 
ing, by  wilful  omission,  the  least  of  the  comraandmeots  which  our 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  ^91 

Lord  rescued  both  from  the  false  glosses  of  Antinomian  Pharisees, 
who  rested  on  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Abraham,  saying  "■  We 
have  Abraham  for  our  father  :  we  are  the  children  of  Abraham  :  we 
are  perfect  in  Abraham ;  all  our  perfection  is  in  Abraham ;"  and  from 
the  no  less  false  glosses  of  those  absurdly-legal  Pharisees,  who  paid 
the  tithe  of  anise,  mint,  and  cummin,  with  the  greatest  scrupulosity, 
whilst  they  secretly  neglected  mercy,  truth,  and  the  love  of  God. — 
And  3.  That  the  perfection  which  Christ  enforced  upon  his  disciples 
was  not  merely  of  the  negative  kind,  but  of  the  positive  also  :  since 
it  consisted  both  in  doing  and  in  leaching  the  least,  as  well  as  the  great- 
est of  God's  commandments. 

If  you  ask  what  are  the  greatest  of  these  commandments,  which 
Christ  says  his  disciples  must  "  do  and  teach,''''  if  they  will  be  great, 
or  perfect  in  his  kingdom  and  dispensation,  St.  Matthew  answers.  One 
of  the  Pharisees,  who  was  a  lawyer,  asked  him  a  question,  saying.  Master^ 
which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the  law,  [the  name  then  given  to  the 
Jewish  Gospel  which  Moses  preached  ;]  Jesus  said  unto  him.  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  mind  :  that  is  the  first  and  great  commandment.  And  the 
second  is  like  unto  it  [in  nature  and  importance,]  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself  On  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets.  Matt.  xxii.  35.  That  is.  Whatever  Moses  and  the 
other  prophets  taught  and  promised,  hangs  on  the  nail  of  perfect 
love.  All  came  from,  all  tended  to,  perfect  love,  under  the  Jewish 
dispensation  :  nor  is  my  dispensation  less  holy  and  gracious.  On  the 
contrary,  What'the  law  could  not  do,  in  a  manner  sufficiently  perfect 
for  my  dispensation  (for  Jewish  perfection  is  not  the  highest  perfec- 
tion at  which  man  may  arrive  on  earth)  God  sending  me  into  the  world 
for  the  atonement  and  destruction  of  sin,  has  hereby  abundantly  con- 
demned sin  in  the  fiesh,  that  the  righteousness  of  the  mediatorial  law.. 
which  enjoins  perfect  love,  might  be  abundantly /w/^Z/ec?  in  the  hearts 
of  them  that  walk  after  the  spirit  of  my  Gospel  ; — a  brighter  Gospel 
this,  which  transmits  more  direct  and  warmer  beams  from  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  and  can  raise  the  exquisitly  delicious  fruit  of  per- 
fect loTe  to  a  greater  perfection  than  the  Gospel  which  Moses 
preached.  [Compare  Rom.  viii.  3.  with  Heb.  iv.  2.  See  also  an 
account  of  the  superiority  of  Christ's  Gospel  in  the  Scripture  Scales, 
Vol.  III.   Sect.  VI.] 

Agreeably  to  this  doctrine  of  perfection  our  Lord  said  to  the  rich 
young  man.  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments  : — If  thou 
wilt  be  perfect^ follow  me  in  the  way  of  my  commandments  :  Love 
God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself:  for  blessed  arc  they 


292  THE    LAST   CHECK 

that  do  his  commandments,  that  they  may  enter  through  the  gates  into  the 
city,  and  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life  which  is  in  the  street  of  that  city,  on 
either  side  of  the  pure  river  of  the  water  of  life.  This  do  and  thou 
shall  live  eternally  in  heaven.  Bring  forth  fruit  unto  perfection, 
according  to  the  talents  of  grace  and  power  which  thou  art  entrusted 
with,  and  thou  shalt  inherit  eternal  life: — thou  shalt  receive  the  reward 
of  the  inheritance  : — thou  shalt  receive  the  crown  of  life  which  the  Lord 
has  promised  to  ihtm  that  love  him,  with  the  love  which  keepeth  the 
commandments,  and  fulfiUeth  the  royal  law.  Compare  Matt.  xix.  17. 
Luke  X.  28.     Rev.  xxii.  2,  14.     James  i.   12.  and  Luke  viii.  14. 

On  these,  and  the  above-mentioned  Scriptures,  we  rest  the  truth 
and  importance  of  the  doctrine  of  perfection.  Jewish  perfection 
principally  stands  or  falls  with  Deut.  vi.  and  Matt.  xxii.  and  Christian 
perfection,  with  Matt.  v.  and  xix.  to  which  you  may  add  the  joint 
testimony  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  James.  The  former,  whom  our  oppo- 
nents absurdly  make  the  captain  of  their  imperfection,  says  to  the 
judaiz^Dg  Galatians,  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens  [a  rare  instance  of 
perfect  love !]  and  so  fulfil  the  [mediatorial]  law  of  Christ,  Gal.  vi.  2. 
- — Nor  let  Mr.  Hill  say,  that  the  apostle  means  we  should  fuljil  it  by 
proxy  ;  for  St.  Paul  adds  in  the  next  verse  but  one.  Let  every  man 
prove  his  own  work,  and  then  [with  respect  to  that  work]  he  shall  have 
rejoicing  in  himself  alone,  and  not  in  another,  for  [with  regard  to  per- 
sonal, evangelical  obedience]  every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burthen: — = 
a  proverbial  expression,  which  answers  to  this  Gospel  axiom,  Every 
man  shall  be  judged  according  to  his  own  works. 

St.  Paul  urges  the  same  evangelical  and  lawful  doctrine  upon  the 
Romans.  Love  one  another ;  for  he  that  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the 
law.  For  this,  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery : — Thou  shalt  not  covet : 
and  if  there  be  any  other  commandment^  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this 
saying,  namely.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  Love  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law,  Rom.  xiii.  8,  &.c.  And  that  St.  Paul  spake  this 
of  the  mediatorial  law  of  liberty  and  Christian  perfection,  and  not  of 
the  Christless  lawof  innocence  and  paradisiacal  perfection,  is  evident 
from  his  calling  it  the  law  of  Christ,  that  is,  Our  Redeemer's  law,  in 
opposition  to  our  Creator'^s  law,  which  was  given  without  an  atoning 
sacrifice  and  a  mediating  priest,  and  therefore  made  no  allowance  for 
infirmities,  and  admitted  neither  of  repentance  nor  of  renovated 
obedience.  Besides,  St.  Paul  was  not  such  a  novice  as  not  to  know 
that  the  Galatians  and  the  Romans,  who  had  all  sinned,  as  he  observes^ 
Rom.  iii.  2v3.  could  never  be  exhorted,  by  any  man  in  his  senses,  to 
fulfil  the  paradisiacal  law  of  innocence,  by  now  loving  one  another. 
He  therefore  indubitably  spake  of  the  gracious  law  of  our  gentle 


•i:0   ANTINOMIANISM.  293 

Melchisedec  ;  the  law  of  him  who  said,  A  new  commandment  I  give 
unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another — as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love 
one  another,  John  xiii.  34. — A  precious  commandment  this,  which  our 
Lord  calls  new,  not  because  the  Jewish  mediator  had  not  given  it  to 
the  Israelites,  but  because  the  Christian  mediator  enforced  it  by  nctv 
motives,  gave  new,  unparalleled  instances  of  obedience  to  it,  annexed 
new  rewards  to  the  keeping  of  it,  and  required  it  to  be  fulfilled  with 
a  7ieta>  perfection :  and  that  Christians  shall  be  eternally  saved  or 
damned,  according  to  their  keeping  or  breaking  this  mediatorial  law 
of  Christian  perfection,  this  law  of  Christ,  this  royal  law  of  Jesus  the 
Kin^  of  the  Jews,  we  prove  by  Matthew  xviii.  35.  vii.  26.  xxv.  45. 
and  Luke  vi.  46,  &:c. 

If  Mr.  Hiirs  prejudices  are  not  removed  by  what  St.  Paul  says  in 
Rom.  xiii.  concerning  onr  fulfilling  the  Gospel  law  of  perfection  ;  we 
entreat  him  to  ponder  the  glorious  testimony  which  the  apostle,  in 
Rom.  ii.  bears  to  this  law,  which  he  does  not  scruple  to  call  his 
Gospel.  With  regard  to  this  gracious  rule  of  judgment,  says  he» 
There  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God.  For  as  many  as  have  sinned 
without  a  [mediator's  written]  law,  shall  also  perish  without  a  [media- 
tor's  written]  law:  and  as  majiy  as  have  sinned  in  [or  under  a 
mediator's  written]  law,  shall  be  judged  by  the  [mediator's  written] 
law.  For  not  the  hearers  of  the  [mediator's]  law,  are  just  before  God, 
but  the  doers  of  the  [mediator's]  law  shall  be  justified.  [Nor  are  the 
heathens  totally  destitute  of  this  law  :]  for  when  the  Gentiles,  which 
have  not  the  [mediator's  written]  law,  do  by  nature  [by  natural  con- 
science, which  is  the  echo  of  the  mediator's  voice,  and  the  reflection 
of  the  light  which  enlightens  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world] 
when  the  Gentiles,  I  say,  do  [by  these  means]  the  things  contained  in  the 
law  ;  they  having  not  the  law  are  a  law  unto  themselves ;  their  conscience 
also  bearing  witness;  and  their  thoughts  [in  consequence  of  tl>e  witness 
borne]  accusing,  or  else  excusing  one  another ;  in  the  day  when  God 
shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ  according  to  my  Gospel, 
[that  is,  according  to  the  Gospel  law  which  I  preach.]  Rom.  ii.  11. 
&LC. — For,  while  some  lay  up  treasures  in  heaven,  others  treasure  up 
to  themselves  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  and  of  the  righteous  judg- 
ment of  God,  who  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds:  to 
them.,  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  [or  in  keeping  the 
mediator's  law  according  to  their  dispensation,]  seek  for  glory  [he  will 
render]  eternal  life,  [like  a  righteous  judge,  and  gracious  rewarder  of 
them  that  diligently  seek  him.]  But  unto  them  that  do  not  obey  the 
truth,  but  obey  unrighteousness,  [he  will  render]  indignation  and  wrath 
fin  just  proportion  to  the  more  or  les?  bright  discoveries  of  the  trutb 


294  THE    LAST    CHECK 

which  shall  have  been  made  to  them]  Rom.  ii.  5,  &c. — For  that 
servant  who  knew  his  Lord's  will,  [by  a  written  law,  delivered  through 
the  hands  of  a  mediator]  and  prepared  not  himself  [that  he  might 
have  boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment]  neither  did  according  to  his  will, 
shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes  [in  the  hell  of  unbelieving  Jews  and 
disobedient  Christians.]  But  he  that  knew  not  [his  master's  will,  by 
an  outwardly  written  law,]  and  did  [break  the  law  of  nature,  disobey 
the  voice  of  his  conscience,  and  [commit  things  worthy  of  stripes,  shall 
be  beaten  with  few  stripes.  For  unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him 
shall  be  much  required,  Luke  xii.  47,  48.  An  indubitable  proof  this, 
that  as  something  is  required  of  all  :  something,  even  a  talent  of 
grace,  a  measure  of  the  spiritual  light  which  enlightens  every  man, 
is  given  to  all  to  improve  with,  and  bring  forth  fruit  to  perfection  : 
some  thirty  fold,  some  sixty  fold,  and  others  an  hundred  fold,  accord- 
ing to  their  respective  dispensations. 

From  these  quotations  it  appears  to  us  indubitable,  that  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Paul,  and  of  consequence,  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  is  not  a 
wanton,  lawless  Gospel  ;  but  a  holy,  lawful  Gospel,  in  which  evan- 
gelical promises  are  properly  guarded  by  evangelical  rules  of  judg- 
ment, and  the  doctrines  of  grace  wisely  connected  with  the  doctrines 
of  justice.  If  this  be  a  glaring  truth,  what  a  dangerous  game  do 
many  good  men  play,  when  they  emasculate  St.  Paul's  Gospel,  and 
with  antinomian  rashness,  cut  off  and  cast  away  that  morally  legal 
part  of  it,  which  distinguishes  it  both  from  the  ceremonial  Gospel^ 
which  the  Galatians  foolishly  embraced  ;  and  from  the  lawless  Gospel^ 
which  Solifidian  gospellers  contend  for,  under  the  perverted  name  of 
free  grace !  And  how  seriously  should  we  all  consider  these  awful 
words  of  St.  Paul !  There  are  some  that  trouble  you,  and  would  pervert 
the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  but  though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach 
any  other  Gospel  unto  you  [whether  it  be  a  more  severe,  judaizing 
Gospel, — or  a  less  strict  Solilidianizing  Gospel]  than  that  which  we 
have  preached  unto  you  [which  stands  at  an  equal  distance  from  bur- 
ihensome  Jewish  ceremonies  ;  and  from  lawless,  Solifidian  tenets  ;] 
let  him  be  accursed,  Gal.  i.  7,  8. 

This  recapitulation  of  the  principal  Scripture  proofs  of  our  doc- 
trine would  be  exceedingly  deficient,  if  1  did  not  once  more  remind 
the  reader  of  the  glorious  testimony  which  St.  James  bears  to  the 
law  of  liberty.  If  ye  [believers,  says  he]  fulfil  the  royal  law,  accord- 
ing to  the  Scripture,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,  ye  do 
well :  [Ye  quit  yourselves  like  perfect  Christians.]  But  if  ye  have 
[uncharitably]  respect  to  persons,  ye  commit  sin,  and  are  convinced  of 
the  lazv  as  transgressors :  [that  is,  ye  are  condemned  by  the  mediator's 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  295 

law,  under  which  ye  are.  For  whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law  [of 
the  mediator  ;]  and  yet  [uncharitably]  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty 
of  alL  ^c.  So  speak  ye,  therefore,  and  so  do,  as  people  that  shall  be 
judged  by  the  law  of  liberty  [the  mediator's  law.]  For  he  [the  imper- 
fect, uncharitable,  fallen  believer]  shall  have  judgment  without  mercy, 
that  hath  showed  no  [charity  or]  mercy,  James  ii.  8. 

We  rest  our  doctrine  of  Jewish  and  Christian  perfection  on  these 
consentaneous  testimonies  of  St.  James  and  St.  Paul ;  of  Moses,  the 
great  lawgiver  of  the  Jews  ;  and  of  Christ,  the  great  lawgiver  of 
the  Christians  :  the  doctrine  of  perfection,  or  of  perfectly  cordial 
obedience,  being  inseparably  connected  with  the  mediatorial  laws  of 
Jiloses  and  of  C/lr^s^  The  moment  you  destroy  these  laws,  by  turning 
them  into  "  rules  of  life,"  through  the  personal  observance  of  which 
no  believer  shall  ever  be  justified  or  condemned,  you  destroy  the 
ground  of  Jewish  and  Christian  perfection,  and  you  impose  upon  us 
the  lawless,  unscriptural  tenet  of  an  obedience  performed  by  proxy, 
and  of  an  imputed  perfection,  which  will  do  us  as  little  good  in  life, 
death,  and  judgment,  as  imputed  health,  opposed  to  inherent  health, 
will  do  to  a  poor,  sickles  dying  criminal.  Thus,  after  leading  my 
reader  round  a  large  circle  of  proofs,  I  return  to  the  very  point 
whence  I  started  :  [See  the  beginning  of  the  preface ;]  And  I  conclude, 
that  a  Gospel  without  a  mediatorial  law,  without  an  evangelical  law, 
without  the  conditional  promise  of  a  crown  of  heavenly  glory  to  the 
obedient,  and  without  the  conditional  threatening  of  infernal  stripes 
to  the  disobedient ; — I  conclude,  I  say,  that  such  a  Gospel  will  always 
lead  us  to  the  centre  of  Antinomianism  ; — to  the  Diana  and  Hecate  of 
the  Calvinists  ;  to  lawless  free  grace  and  everlasting  free  wrath  ;  or. 
if  you  please,  finished  salvation  and  finished  damnation.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  moment  you  admit  what  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
Gospel  covenants  are  so  express  about,  I  mean  an  evangelical  law,  or 
a  practicable  rule  of  judgment,  as  well  as  of  conduct,  eternal  salvation 
and  eternal  damnation  become  conditional :  they  are  suspended  upon 
the  evangelical  perfection  or  imperfection  of  our  obedience  :  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Berridge  hits  on  the  head  the  golden  nail,  on  which  hangs 
all  the  law  and  the  prophets,  all  the  four  Gospels  and  the  Epistles, 
when  he  says,  "  Sincere  obedience  as  a  condition  will  lead  you  unavoid- 
ably up  to  a  perfect  obedience. ^^ 

And  now,  reader,  choose  which  thou  wilt  follow,  Mr.  Hiirs  lawless 
Antinomian  Gospel,  or  St.  Paul  and  St.  James's  Gospel,  including  the 
evangelical  law  of  Christian  liberty  and  perfection,  by  which  law  thou 
shalt  be  conditionally  jusU^ed  or  condemned,  when  God  shall  judge  the 
secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  Gospel,  Rom.  ii.  16.     If 


296  THE    LAST    CHECK 

thou  choose  imputed  righteousness  and  imputed  perfection  without 
any  condition,  it  will  ''  unavoidabhf  lead  thee  down  into  a  death  pur- 
gatory,  through  the  chambers  of  indwelling  sin,  if  thou  art  an  elect 
person  in  the  Calvinian  sense  of  the  word  ;  or  to  eternal  damnation 
through  the  chambers  of  necessary  sin,  if  thou  art  one  of  those  whom 
our  opponents  call  reprobates.  But  if  thou  cordially  choose  the  sin- 
cere, voluntary,  evangelical  obedience  of  fiiith,  which  we  preach  both 
as  a  condition  and  as  a  privilege;  it  will  [Mr.  HiWs  second  being  judge] 
"  unavoidably  lead  thee  up  to  perfect  obedience.'*  There  is  abso- 
lutely no  medium  between  these  two  Gospels.  Thou  must  either  be 
a  Crispian^  lawless  imperfectionist,  or  an  evangelical  lawful  perfection- 
ist ;  unless  thou  choose  to  be  a  Gallio — one  who  cares  for  none  of 
these  things.  Thou  must  wrap  thyself  up  in  unscriptural  notions  of 
imputed  righteousness,  imputed  holiness,  and  imputed  obedience, 
which  make  up  the  ideal  garment  of  Calvinistically  imputed  perfec- 
tion :  or  thou  must  perfectly  wash  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  thy  robes 
of  inherent,  though  derived  righteousness,  holiness  and  obedience, 
which  [when  they  are  thus  washed]  are  the  rich  wedding  garment  of 
evangelical  perfection. 

SECTION  XVI. 

The  Author  shows  that  the  distinction  between  sins,  and  [evangelically 
speaking'\  innocent  infirmities,  is  truly  scriptural^  and  that  judicious 
Calvinists,  and  the  Church  of  England  hold  it. — He  draws  the  line 
between  sins  and  innocent  infirmities. — A  view  of  the  extremes  into 
which  rigid  Pelagian  Perfectionists,  and  rigid  Calvinian  Imperfec- 
tionisis,  have  run  east  and  west  from  the  Gospel  line,  of  an  evangelical 
perfection. — An  answer  to  Mr.  Henry's  grand  argument  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  indwelling  sin^ — Conclusion  of  the  argumentative  part  of 
this  Essay. 

We  have  proved,  in  the  preceding  section,  that  the  doctrine  of  an 
evangelically  sinless  perfection  is  truly  scriptural ;  being  inseparably 
connected  with  the  greatest  and  most  excellent  precepts  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  and  with  the  most  evangelical  and  awful  sanc- 
tions of  Moses  and  Jesus  Christ.  This  might  suffice  to  show,  that  our 
doctrine  of  perfection  cannot  be  called  popish^  or  Pelagian,  with  any 
more  candour,  than  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  can  be  branded  with 
those  epithets,  because  Pelagius  and  the  Pope  embrace  it.  If,  in 
order  to  be  good  Protestants,  we  were  obliged  to  renounce  all  that 
the  Jews,  Turks,  and  Infidels  hold  :  we  should  renounce  the  Old 
Testament,  because  the  Jews  revere  it :  we  should  renounce  the 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  297 

unity  of  God,  because  the  Mahometans  contend  for  it :  nay,  we  should 
renounce  coramon  humanity,  because  all  Infidels  approve  of  it.  i  beg 
leaFe,  however,  to  dwell  a  moment  Ion:^er  upon  Mr.  Hiirs  objection, 
that  the  Pope  holds  our  doctrine. 

When  this  gentleman  was  at  Romc^  he  may  remember  that  his 
Cicerorac  showed  him,  in  the  ancient  church  of  St.  Paul  without  the 
gate,  (if  I  remember  the  name  riacht)  the  pictures  of  all  the  Popes, 
from  St.  Peter,  Linus,  Cletus,  and  Clement,  down  to  the  Pope,  vvho  then 
filled,  what  is  called  "  St.  Peters  chair."  According  to  this  view  ol 
papacy,  Mr.  Hill  is  certainly  in  the  right ;  for  if  he  turn  back  to 
Sect.  V.  he  will  see  that  Peter  the  first  Pope,  so  called,  was  a  com- 
plete perfectionist,  and  if  Clemens,  or  St.  Clement,  PauVs  fellow 
labourer,  was  really  the  fourth  Pope,  it  is  certain  that  he  also  held 
our  doctrine,  as  well  as  Peter  and  Christ;  for  he  wrote  to  the  Corin- 
thians, '*  Bd  love  were  all  the  elect  of  God  made  perfect. — Those  who 
were  made  perfect  in  love  are  in  the  region  of  the  just,  and  shall 
appear  in  glory. — Happy  then  are  we,  if  we  fulfil  the  commxtnd merits 
of  God  in  the  unity  of  love. — Following  the  commandments  of  God, 
they  sin  noty  Si.  Clem.  Ep.  to  the  Cor.  This  glorious  testimony, 
which  St.  Clement  bears  to  the  doctrine  of  perfection,  might  be  sup- 
ported by  many  correspondent  quotations  from  the  other  Fathers. 
But  as  this  would  too  much  swell  this  Essay,  I  shall  only  produce  one. 
which  is  so  much  the  more  remarkable,  as  it  is  taken  from  St  Jeromes 
third  Dialogue  against  Pelagius,  the  rigid,  overdoing  perfectionist. 
*'  Hoc  et  nos  dicimus,  posse  hominem  non  peccare,  si  velit,  pro  tem- 
pore, pro  loco,  pro  imbecilitate  corporea,  quavidiu  intentus  est  animus, 
quamdiu  chorda  nulla  vitio  laxatur  in  cithara.'^ — That  is,  fVe  [who 
oppose  Pelagius's  notions  about  Adamic  perfection]  maintain  also,  that 
GonsiJering  our. time,  place,  and  bodily  weakness,  rve  can  avoid  sin  if  rt^c 
will ;  as  long  as  our  mind  is  bent  upon  it,  and  the  string  of  our  harr 
[i.  e.  of  our  Christian  resolution]  is  not  slackened  by  any  rs; i If ul  fault. 

When  I  read  these  blessed  testimonies  in  favour  of  the  truth  which 
we  vindicate,  my  pleased  mind  flies  to  Rome,  and  i  am  ready  to  say. 
Hail !  ye  holy  Popes  and  Fathers,  ye  perfect  servants  of  my  perfect 
Lord  !  I  am  ambitious  to  share  with  you  the  names  of  "  Arminian. 
Pelagian,  Papist,  temporary  monster,  and  Atheist  in  masquerade.'" 
I  publish  to  the  world  my  steady  resolution  to  follow  you,  and  any  oi 
your  successors,  who  have  done  and  taught  Christ's  commandments 
And  I  enter  my  protest  against  the  mistakes  of  the  ministers,  who 
teach  that  Christ's  law  is  impracticable,  that  sin  must  dwell  in  our 
hearts  as  long  as  we  live,  and  that  we  must  continue  to  break  thf. 
T«ord's  precepts  in  our  inward  parts  unto  death. 

Vf)t.   l¥.  38 


298  THE  LAST  cHficri 

I  shall  close  my  answer  to  this  argnment  of  Mr.  Hill,  by  a  quots^ 
tion  from  Mr.  Weshifs  Remarks  upon  the  Review.  '•  It  [our  doctrine 
of  Christian  perfection]  has  been  condemned  by  the  Pope  and  his 
whole  conclave,  even  in  this  present  century.  In  the  famous  bull 
Unigeniius,  they  utterly  condemn  the  uninterrupted  act  [of  faith  and 
love  which  some  men  talked  of,  of  continually  rejoicing,  praying, 
and  giving  thanks]  as  dreadful  heresy." — If  we  have  Peter  and  C/e- 
wien^on  our  side,  we  are  willing  to  let  Mr.  Hill  screen  his  doctrine 
behind  the  Pope  who  issued  out  the  bull  Unigenitus,  and  if  he  pleases, 
behind  the  present  Pope  too. 

However,  says  Mr.  Hill^  "  The  distinction  between  sins  and  inno- 
cent infirmities,  is  derived  from  the  Romish  church." 

Ans.  1.  We  rejoice,  if  the  church  of  Rome  was  never  so  unreason- 
able, and  so  deluded  by  iVntinomian  Popes,  as  to  confound  an  invo- 
luntary wandering  thought,  an  undesigned  mistake,  and  a  lamented 
fit  of  drowsiness  at  prayer,  with  adultery,  murder,  and  incest ;  in 
order  to  represent  Christ's  mediatorial  law  as  absolutely  impracti- 
cable ;  and  to  insinuate  that  fallen  believers,  who  actually  commit  the 
above-mentioned  crimeSy  are  God's  dear  children,  as  well  as  the 
obedient  believers,  who  labour  under  the  above  described  infirmities. 

2.  We  apprehend  that  Mr.  Hill,  and  the  divines  who  have 
espoused  Dr.  Crisp^s  errors,  are  some  of  the  last  persons  in  the 
world  by  whom  we  may,  with  decency,  be  charged  to  hold  "  licen- 
iious''^  doctrines.  And  we  are  truly  sorry  that  any  Protestants  should 
make  it  their  business  to  corrupt  that  part  of  the  Gospel,  which,  if 
we  believe  Mr.  Hill,  the  Pope  himself  has  modestly  spared. 

3.  Mr.  Hill  might,  with  much  more  propriety  have  objected,  that 
our  distinction  is  derived  from  the  Jewish  church  ;  for,  the  "  old 
rogue,^^  as  some  Solifidians  have  rashly  called  Moses,  evidently  made 
a  distinction  between  sin  and  infirmities  ;  he  punished  a  daring  Sabbath- 
breaker,  and  an  audacious  rebel,  with  death, — with  present  death, — 
with  the  most  terrible  kind  of  death.  The  language  of  his  burning 
zeal  seemed  to  be  that  of  David,  Be  not  merciful  to  them  that  offend 
of  malicious  wickedness.  Psalm  lix.  5. — But  upon  such  as  accidentally 
contracted  some  involuntary  pollution,  he  inflicted  no  other  punish- 
ment than  that  "of  a  separation  from  the  congregation  till  evening. — 
If  Mr.  Hill  consider  the  difference  of  these  two  punishments,  he 
must  either  give  place  to  perverseness,  or  confess,  that  wilful  sins, 
and  involuntary  intirmities,  were  not  Calvinistically  confounded  by  the 
mediator  of  the  Old  Covenant ;  and  that  .Moses  himself  made  a  rational 
and  evangelical  distinction  between  the  spot  of  God^s  children,  and  thai 
of  the  perverse  and  crooked  generation y  Deut.  xxxii.  4. 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  ^9 

4.  That  Christ,  the  equitable  and  gracious  mediator  of  the  New 
Covenant,  was  not  less  merciful  than  stern  Moses,  with  respect  to  the 
distinction  we  contend  for,  appears  to  us  evident  from  his  making  a 
wide  difference  between  the  almost  involuntary  drowsiness  of  th« 
eleven  disciples  in  Gethsemane,  and  the  malicious  watchfulness  of  the 
traitor  Judas.  Concerning  the  offence  of  the  former,  he  said.  The 
spirit  indeed  is  willing,  but  thejiesh  is  weak  ;  and  with  respect  to  the 
crime  of  the  latter  he  declared,  It  -si'ould  be  good  for  that  man  if  he 
had  never  been  born. 

5.  David  and  Paul  exactly  followed  herein  the  doctrine  of  Aloses 
and  Christ.  The  Psalmist  says.  Keep  back  thy  servant  also  from  pre- 
sumptuous sins  :  let  them  not  have  the  dominion  over  me  :  then  shall  I  be 
upright;  [or  rather,  as  the  word  literally  means  in  the  original]  / 
shall  be  perfect  and  innocent  from  the  great  transgression.  Psalm  xix.  13. 
Hence  it  is  evident  that  some  transgressions  are  incompatible  with 
the  perfection  which  David  prayed  for  ;  and  that  some  errors,  or  some 
secret  (unnoticed,  involuntary)  faults  are  not. 

6.  This,  we  apprehend,  is  evident  from  his  own  words,  Blessed  is 
the  man  unto  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  not  sin  ;  and  in  whose  spirit  there 
is  no  guile,  though  there  may  be  some  improprieties  in  his  words  and 
actions.  Psalm,  sxxii.  2.  David's  meaning  may  be  illustrated  by  the 
well-known  case  of  Nathanael.  Philip  said  to  him,  We  have  found 
him  of  whom  Moses  wrote  in  the  law :  [a  clear  proof  this,  by  the  by, 
that  the  law  frequently  means  the  Jewish  Gospel,  which  testifies  of 
Christ  to  come  :]  it  is  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  And  Nathanael  said  unto 
him,  Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?  Here  was  an  involun- 
tary fault,  an  i7nproper  quoting  of  a  proverbial  expression  :  and  never- 
theless, as  he  quoted  it  with  a  good  intention,  and  to  make  way  for  a 
commendable  inquiry  into  the  report  which  he  heard,  his  error  was 
consistent  with  that  degree  of  perfection  which  implies  innocence  from 
the  great  [wilful]  transgression.  This  I  prove  :  1.  By  his  conduct  ; 
Philip  saith  unto  him,  Come  and  see  :  and  he  instantly  went,  without 
betraying  the  least  degree  of  the  self-conceited  stiffness,  surly  pride, 
and  morose  resistance  which  always  accompany  the  unloving  preju- 
dice by  which  the  law  of  Christ  is  broken. — And  2.  By  our  Lord's 
testimony  :  Jesus  saw  Nathanael  coming  to  him,  and  saith  of  him. 
Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile !  Our  Lord's  word  for 
guile,  in  the  original,  is  00A05,  the  very  word,  which  being  also  con- 
nected with  a  negative,  forms  the  epithet  x^eXoi,  whereby  St.  Peter 
denotes  the  unadulterated  purity  of  God's  word,  which  he  compares 
to  sincere  or  perfectly  pure  milk.  \  Peter  ii.  2.  Hence  I  conclude, 
that,  Christ  himself  being  witness,  [evangelically  speaking]  there  was 


300  THE    LAST    CHECK 

uo  more  indwelling  insincerity  in  Nathanael^  than  there  is  in  the  pure 
word  of  .>od,  and  that  this  is  the  happy  case  of  all  those  who  fully 
deserve  the  glorious  title  of  Israelite  indeed^  which  our  Lord  publicly 
bestowed  upon  Nathanael.     To  return  : 

7.  If  to  make  a  distinction  between  sins  and  infirmities,  constitutes 
a  man  half  a  Papist,  it  is  evident  that  St.  Paul  was  not  less  tinctured 
with  popery  (so  called)  than  David,  Moses,  and  Jesus  Christ :  for  he 
writes  to  Timothy — them  that  sin,  rebuke  before  all,  that  others  also  may 

fear,  i  Tim.  v.  20.  And  yet,  he  writes  to  the  Romans,  We  that  are 
strong  should  bear  with  the  infirmities  of  the  weak.  Rom.  xv.  1. 
Here  are  two  plain  conaniands  ;  the  first,  not  to  bear  with  sins;  and 
the  second,  to  bear  with  infirmities:  a  demonstration  this,  that  there  is 
an  essential  difference  between  sms  and  infirmities,  and  that  this  differ- 
ence is  discoverable  to  others,  and  much  more  to  ourselves.  Nay,  in 
most  cases,  it  is  so  discernible  to  those  who  have  their  spiritual  senses 
properly  disposed,  that  they  can  as  easily  distinguish  between  sins 
(properly  so  called)  and  infirmities,  as  a  wise  judge  can  distinguish 
between  accidental  death,  and  wilful  murder ;  or  between  unknow- 
ingly passing  a  false  guinea  with  a  kind  intention  to  relieve  the  poor, 
and  treasonably  coining  it  with  a  roguish  design  to  defraud  the 
public.  The  difference  between  the  sun  and  the  moon  is  not  more 
striking  in  the  natural  world,  than  the  difference  between  sins  and 
infirmities  is  in  the  moral  world  Nevertheless,  blind  prejudice  will 
probably  confound  them  still,  to  darken  counsel,  and  to  raise  a  cloud 
of  logical  dust,  that  Anlinomianism,  (the  Diana  of  the  Imperfectionists) 
may  make  her  escispe,  and  save  indwelling  sin,  which  is  the  claw  of 
the  hellish  lion,  the  tooth  of  (he  old  dragon,  the  fishing-hook  of  Satan, 
and  the  deadly  stirtg  of  the  king  of  terrors. 

8.  Judicious  Calvinists  have  seen  the  propriety  of  the  distinction, 
for  which  we  are  represented  as  unsound  Protestants.  Of  many 
whom  1  could  mention,  I  shall  only  quote  one,  who,  for  his  piety, 
wisdom,  and  moderation,  is  an  honour  to  Calvinism. — 1  mean  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Newton,  Mmister  of  Olney.  In  his  Letters  on  Religious  Sub- 
jects, p.  \i)9,  he  makes  this  ingenuous  confession — "  The  experi- 
ence of  past  years  has  taught  me"  [and  1  hope  that  some  day  or  other 
it  will  also  teach  our  other  opponents]  "  to  distinguish  between  igjio- 
.fance  and  disobedience.  The  Lord  is  gracious  to  the  weakness  of  his 
people  ;  many  involuntary  mistakes  will  not  interrupt  their  communion 
with  him. — He  pities  their  infirmity,  and  teaches  them  to  do  better. 
But  if  they  dispute  his  known  will,  and  act  against  the  dictates  of  con- 
science, they  will  surely  suffer  for  it. — Wilful  sin  sadly  perplexes  and 
retards  our  progress.'*     Here  is,  if  1  mistake  not,  a  clear  distinction 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  301 

made  by  a  true  Protestant,  between  disobedience ^  or  rviljtd  sin,  ami 
Tjealmess,  involuntary  mistakes,  or  infirmity. 

9.  If  Mr.  Hill  will  not  regard  Mr.  Aewton''s  authority,  I  beg  he 
would  show  some  respect  for  the  authority  of  our  Church,  and  the 
import  of  his  own  prayers.  If  there  be  absolutely  no  difference 
between  wilful  sins,  involuntary  negligences,  and  unavoidable  ignor- 
ances:  why  does  our  Church  distinguish  them,  when  she  directs  us  to 
pray  in  the  litany,  that  it  may  please  God  to  forgive  us  all  our  sins^ 
negligences,  and  ignorances?  If  these  three  words  have  but  one 
meaning,  should  not  Mr.  Hill  leave  out  the  two  last,  as  ridiculoua 
tautology  ?  Or,  at  least,  to  remove  from  our  Church  the  suspicion  of 
Popery,  should  he  not  pray  every  Sunday  that  God  would  forgive  uz 
all  our  sins,  sins,  and  sins ! 

From  the  nine  preceding  remarks,  and  the  quotations  made  therein, 
it  appears,  if  I  mistake  not,  that  our  important  distinction  between 
'wilful  sin  and  infirmities,  or  involuntary  offences,  recommends  itself  to 
reason  and  conscience  ;  that  it  is  supported  by  the  law  of  Moses,  and 
the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  by  the  psalms  of  David,  and  the  epistles  of  St. 
Paul;  by  the  writings  of  judicious  Calvinists,  and  the  liturgy  of  our 
Church  ;  and  therefore,  it  is  as  absurd  to  call  it  a  popish  distinction, 
because  the  Papists  are  not  injudicious  enough  Ic^reject  it.  as  it  is 
absurd  to  call  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  divinity,  a  doctrine  of  devils, 
because  devils  acknowledge  him  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  and  their 
Omnipotent  Controller. 

Should  Mr.  Hill  reply,  that  if  this  distinction  cannot  properly  be 
called  popish,  it  deserves  to  be  called  "  Antinomian'^  and  "  licentious  ;^* 
because  it  countenances  all  the  men  who  give  to  their  grossest  sins 
the  soft  name  of  innocent  infirmities;  we  can  answer:  it  has  been 
proved,  that  Moses  and  Jesus  Christ  held  this  distinction  ;  and  there- 
fore to  call  it  Aniinomian  and  licentious,  is  to  call  not  only  Christ,  the 
holy  one  of  God,  but  even  "  legaV  Moses,  an  Aniinomian,  and  an 
advocate  for  licentiousness.  See  what  these  Calvinian  retinements 
come  to ! — 2.  The  men  who  abuse  the  doctrine  of  the  distinction 
between  sins  and  infirmities,  abuse  as  much  the  doctrine  of  God's 
mercy,  and  the  important  distinction  between  working  days  and  the 
Lordh  day:  but,  is  this  a  proof  that  the  doctrines  of  God's  mercy, 
and  the  distinction  between  the  Lord's  day  and  other  da}  s,  are  "  licen- 
tious tenets,  against  which  all  that  wish  well  to  the  interests  of  Protes- 
lantism  should  protest  in  a  body  ?''' 

If  Mr.  Hill  try  to  embarrass  us  by  saying,  *'  Where  will  you  drav, 
the  hne  between  wilful  sinsy  and  [evangelically  speaking]  innocen' 
infirmities  ^^^ — We  reply,  without  the  least  degree  of  embarrassment 


302  THE  LAST  CHECK 

Where  Moses  and  the  prophets  ha?e  drawn  it  in  the  Old  Testament ; 
where  Christ  and  the  apostles  have  drawn  it  in  the  New  ;  and  where 
we  draw  it  after  them  in  these  pages.  And  retorting  the  question  to 
show  its  frivolousness,  we  ask,  where  will  Mr.  Hill  draw  the  line 
between  the  free,  evangelical  observing  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  the 
superstitious,  Pharisaic  keeping  of  the  Sabbath ;  or  between  weak 
saving  faith,  and  wilful  unbelief?  Nay,  upon  his  principles,  where 
will  he  draw  it  even  between  a  good  and  a  bad  work  ;  if  all  our  good 
works  are  really  dung,  dross,  and  filthy  rags  ? 

However,  as  the  question  is  important,  I  shall  give  it  a  more  par- 
ticular answer.  An  infirmity  is  a  breach  of  Adam's  law  of  paradisia- 
cal perfection,  which  our  covenant  God  does  not  require  of  us  now  : 
and  [evangelically  speaking]  a  sin  for  Christians,  is  a  breach  of  Christ's 
evangelical  law  of  Christian  perfection— a  pirfection  this,  which  God 
requires  of  all  Christian  behevers. — An  infirmity  [considering  it  with 
the  error  which  it  occasions]  is  consistent  with  pure  love  to  God  and 
man  :  but  a  sin  is  inconsistent  with  that  love. — An  infirmity  is  free 
from  guile,  and  has  its  root  in  our  animal  frame  ;  but  a  sin  is  attended 
with  guile,  and  has  its  root  in  our  moral  frame,  springing  either  from 
the  habitual  corruption  of  our  hearts,  or  from  the  momentary  perver- 
sion of  our  temoers. — An  infirmity  unavoidably  results  from  our 
unhappy  circumstances,  and  from  the  necessary  infelicities  of  our 
present  state.  But  a  sin  flows  from  the  avoidable  and  perverse 
choice  of  our  own  will. — An  infirmity  has  its  foundation  in  an  invo- 
luntary want  of  power :  and  a  sin^  in  a  wilful  abuse  of  the  present 
light  and  power  we  have.  The  one  arises  from  involuntary  igno- 
rance and  weakness,  and  is  always  attended  with  a  good  meaning — a 
meaning  unmixed  with  any  had  design,  or  wicked  prejudice  :  but  the 
other  has  its  source  in  voluntary  perverseness  and  presumption,  and 
is  always  attended  with  a  meaning  altogether  bad ;  or,  at  best,  with  a 
good  meaning  founded  on  wicked  prejudices.  If  to  this  line  the  can- 
did reader  add  the  line  which  we  have  drawn  [Section  VI.]  between 
the  perfection  of  a  Gentile,  that  of  a  Jew,  and  that  of  a  Christian,  he 
will  not  easily  mistake  in  passing  a  judgment  between  the  wilful  sins, 
which  are  inconsistent  with  an  evangelically  sinless  perfection,  and  the 
innocent  infirmities  which  are  consistent  with  such  a  perfection. 

Confounding  what  God  has  divided,  and  dividing  what  the  God  of 
truth  has  joined,  are  the  two  capital  stratagems  of  the  god  of  error. 
The  first  he  has  chiefly  used  to  eclipse  or  darken  the  doctrine  of 
Christian  perfection.  B}'^  means  of  his  instruments,  he  has  perpetually 
confounded  the  Christless  law  of  perfect  innocence,  given  to  Adam 
before  the  fall ;  and  the  mediatorial,  evangelical  law  of  penitential 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  303 

faith,  under  which  our  first  parents  were  put,  when  God  promised 
them  the  Seed  of  the  woman,  the  mild  Lawgiver,  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
the  gentle  King  of  the  Jews,  who  breaks  not  the  bruised  reed^  nor 
quenches  the  smoking  flax^  but  compassionately  tempers  the  doctrine? 
of  justice  by  the  doctrines  of  grace,  and  instead  of  the  law  of  inno- 
cence, which  he  has  kept  and  made  honourable  for  us,  has  substituted 
his  own  evangelical  law  of  repentance,  f^iith,  and  Gospel  obedience, 
which  law  is  actually  kept,  according  to  one  or  another  of  its  various 
editions,  by  nWjust  7nen  made  perfect;  that  is,  by  all  the  rvise  virgins. 
who  are  ready  for  the  mindnight  cry  and  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb. 

Hence  it  appears  that  Pelagius  and  Augustine  were  both  right  in 
some  things,  and  wrong  in  a  capital  point.  Pelagius^  the  father  of  the 
rigid  Perfectionists  and  rigid  Free-willers,  asserted  that  Christ's  law 
could  be  kept,  and  that  the  keeping  of  that  law  was  all  the  perfection 
which  that  law  requires.  So  far  Pelagius  was  right :  having  reason, 
conscience,  and  Scripture  on  his  side.  But  he  was  grossly  mistaken, 
if  he  confounded  Christ's  mediatorial  law,  with  the  law  of  paradisia- 
cal perfection.  This  was  his  capital  error,  which  led  him  to  deny 
original  sin,  and  to  extol  human  powers  so  excessively  as  to  intimate, 
that  by  a  fliithful  and  diligent  use  of  them,  man  may  be  as  innocent^ 
and  as  perfect,  as  Adam  w^s  before  the  fall. 

On  the  other  hand,  Augustine,  the  father  of  the  rigid  Imperfection- 
ists  and  rigid  Bound-vvillers,  maintained  that  our  natural  powers  being 
greatly  weakened  and  depraved  by  the  fall,  we  cannot,  by  all  the 
helps  which  the  Gospel  affords,  keep  the  law  of  innocence  ;  that  is, 
always  think,  speak,  and  act,  with  that  exactness,  and  propriety, 
which  became  immortal  man,  when  God  pronounced  him  very  good 
in  Paradise  :  he  asserted,  that  every  impropriety  of  thought,  language, 
or  behaviour,  is  a  breach  of  the  law  of  perfection,  under  which  God 
placed  innocent  man  in  the  garden  of  Eden  :  and  he  proved  that  every 
breach  of  this  law  is  sin  :  and  that  of  consequence,  there  can  be  no 
Adamaic  paradisiacal  perfection  in  this  life.  So  far  Augustine  was 
very  right : — so  far  reason  and  Scripture  support  his  doctrine  : — and 
so  far  the  Church  is  obliged  to  him  for  having  made  a  stand  against 
Pelagius.  But  he  was  very  much  mistaken  when  he  abolished  the 
essential  diflference  which  there  is  between  our  Creator's  law  of 
strict  justice,  and  our  Redeemer's  mediatorial  law  of  justice  tempered 
with  grace  and  mercy.  Hence  he  concluded  that  there  is  absolutely 
no  keeping  the  law,  and  consequently  no  performing  any  perfect 
obedience  in  this  life  ;  and  that  we  must  sin  as  long  as  we  continue 
in  the  body.     Thus,  while  Pelagius  made  adult  Christians  as  perfectly 


304  THE  LAST  CHECK 

sinless  as  Adam  was  in  paradise  ;  Augustine  made  them  so  completely 
sinful^  as  to  make  it  necessary  for  every  one  of  them  to  go  into  a 
death  purgatory,  crying,  *'  There  is  a  law  in  my  members,  which 
brings  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin.  Sin  dwelleth  in  me.  With 
my  flesh  I  serve  the  law  of  sin.  I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin — O 
wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  ?" 

The  Scripture  doctrine  which  we  vindicate,  stands  at  an  equal  dis- 
tance from  these  extremes  o(  Pelagius  and  Augustine.  It  rejects,  with 
Augustine,  the  Adamic  perfection  which  Pelagius  absurdly  pleaded 
for  :  and  it  explodes,  with  Pelagius,  the  necessary  continuance  of 
indwelling  sin,  and  carnal  bondage,  which  Augustine  no  less  absurdly 
maintained.  Thus,  adult  believers  are  still  sinners, — still  imperfect, 
according  to  the  righteous  law  of  paradisiacal  innocence  and  perfec- 
tion :  and  yet,  they  are  really  saints,  and  perfect,  according  to  the  gra- 
cious law  of  cvttw^e/ica/ justification  and  perfection  ;  a  law  this,  which 
considers  as  upright  and  perfect,  all  the  godly  Heathens,  Jews,  and 
Christians,  who  are  without  guile  in  their  respective  folds,  or  under 
their  various  dispensations.  Thus,  by  still  vindicating  the  various 
editions  of  Christ's  mediatorial  law,  which  has  been  at  times  almost 
buried  under  heaps  of  Pharisaic  and  Antinomian  mistakes,  we  still 
defend  practical  religion.  And  as  in  the  Scripture  scales,  by  proving 
the  evangelical  marriage  of  Free  Grace,  and  Free  Will,  we  have 
reconciled  Zelotes  and  Honestus  with  respect  to  faith  and  works ;  so 
in  this  essay,  by  proving  the  evangelical  union  of  the  doctrines  of 
grace  and  justice,  in  the  mild  and  righteous  law  of  our  Redeemer,  we 
reconcile  Augustine  and  Pelagius,  and  force  them  to  give  up  reason  and 
Scriptiire,  or  to  renounce  the  monstrous  errors  which  keep  them 
asunder  :  I  mean  the  deep,  Antinomian  errors  of  Augustine,  with  re- 
spect to  indwelling  sin  and  a  death  purgatory;  and  the  high-flowo; 
Pharisaic  errors  of  Pelagius,  with  regard  to  Adamic  perfection,  and  a 
complete  freedom  from  original  degeneracy. 

The  method  we  have  used  to  bring  about  this  reconciliation  is  quite 
plain  and  uniform.  W^e  have  kept  our  Scripture  Scales  even,  and 
used  every  weight  of  the  sanctuary  without  prejudice  ;  especially 
those  weights  which  the  Moralists  throw  aside  as  Cahinistic  and  Anii- 
nomian ;  and  those  which  the  Solifidians  east  away  as  Mosaic  and 
legal.  Thus,  by  evenly  balancing  the  two  Gos^pel  axioms,  we  have 
reunited  the  doctrines  of  grace  and  of  justice,  which  heated  Augustine 
and  heated  Pelagius  have  separated  ;  apd  we  have  distinguished  our 
Redeemer's  evangelical  law,  from  our  Creator's  paradisiacal  law  ; 
two  distinct  laws  these,  which  those  illustrious  antagonists  have  con 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  305 

founded  ;  and  we  flatter  ourselves  that,  by  this  artle«5s  mean,  another 
step  is  taken  towards  bringing  the  trvo  partial  Gospels  of  the  day,  to 
the  old  standard  of  the  one,  complete  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  havj^done  unfoldinaj  our  reconciling  plan  :  but  the  disciples  of 
Augustine,  rallied  by  Calvin,  have  not  done  attacking  it!  I  hope  that 
I  have  answered  the  objections  of  Mr.  Hill,  Mr.  Toplady,  and  Mr. 
Martin,  against  the  evangelical  perfection  which  we  defend  ;  but 
another  noted  divine  of  their  persuasion  comes  up  to  their  assistance. 
It  is  the  Rev.  Mr.  Matthew  Henry,  who  has  deservedly  got  a  great 
name  among  the  Calvinists,  by  his  valuable  Exposition  of  the  Bible  in 
five  folio  volumes.  This  huge  piece  of  ordnance  carries  a  h»^avy 
ball  which  threatens  the  very  heart  of  our  sinless  Gospel.  It  is  too 
late  to  attempt  an  abrupt  and  silent  flight.  Let  then  Mr.  Henry  fire 
away.  If  our  doctrine  of  an  evangelically  sinless  perfection  is  found- 
ed upon  a  rock,  it  will  stand  ;  the  ponderous  ball  which  seems  likely 
to  demolish  it  will  rebound  against  the  doctrine  of  indwelling  sin  :  and 
the  standard  of  Christian  liberty  which  we  wave,  will  be  more  re- 
spected than  ever. 

"  Corruption  [saith  that  illustrious  commentator,]  is  left  remaining  in 
the  hearts  of  good  Christians,  that  they  may  learn  war,  may  keep  oq 
the  whole  armour  of  God,  and  stand  continually  upon  their  guard."— 
**  Thus  corruption  is  driven  out  of  the  hearts  o{  beViexers  by  little  and 
little.  The  work  of  sanctification  is  carried  on  gradually  :  but  tliat 
judgment  will  at  length  be  brought  forth  into  a  complete  victory." — 
Namely,  when  death  shall  come  to  the  assistance  of  the  atoning 
blood,  and  of  the  SjJirit's  power.  That  this  is  Mr.  Henry''s  doctrine 
is  evident  from  his  comment  on  Gal.  v.  17.  "  In  a  renewed  man, 
where  thfere  is  something  of  a  good  principle,  there  is  a  struggle 
between,  &c.  the  remainders  of  sin,  and  the  beginnings  of  grace  ;  and 
this.  Christians  must  expect,  will  be  their  exercise  as  long  as  they  con' 
iinue  in  this  world  ;^^ — or,  to  speak  more  intelligibly,  till  they  go  into 
the  death  purgatory. 

Not  to  mention  here  again,  Gal.  v.  17,  &c.  Mr.  Henry  builds  this 
uncomfortable  doctrine  upon  the  following  text,  The  Lord  thy  God 
will  put  out  those  nations  before  thee  by  little  and  little  ;  thou  mayest  not 
consume  them  at  once,  lest  the  beasts  of  the  field  increase  upon  thee. 
Deut.  vii.  22.  And  he  gives  us  to  understand  that  ^^  pride,  and  secu- 
rity, and  other  sins''^  are  "  the  enemies  more  dangerous  than  the  beasts 
of  the  field  thai  would  be  apt  to  increase''^  upon  us,  if  God  delivered  us 
from  indwelling  sm,  i.  e.  from  the  remains  of  pride,  and  carnal  secu- 
rity, and  other  sins.  This  exposition  is  backed  by  an  appeal  to  tne 
following  text,  JVow  these  are  the   nations  which  the  Lord  left  to  prove 

Vol.  IV.  59 


30S  THE   LAST   CHECK 

Israel  hy  ihem-^io  know  whether  they  [the  Israelites]  would  hearken  to 
the  commandments  of  the  Lord^  Judges  iii.  1,  4.  See  Mr.  Henry's 
Exposition  on  these  passages. 

To  this  we  answer,  1.  That  it  is  absurd  to  build  the  mi|[^ty  doc- 
trine of  a  death  purgatory  upon  an  historical  allusion.  If  such  allu- 
sions were  proofs,  we  could  easily  multiply  our  arguments.  We 
could  say,  that  sin  is  to  be  utterly  destroyed^  because  Moses  says.  The 
Lord  delivered  into  our  hands  Og  and  all  his  people,  and  we  smote  him 
until  none  was  left  unto  him  remaining.  Deut.  iii.  3. — Because  Joshua 
smote  Horam  king  of  Gezer,  and  his  people,  until  he  had  left  him  none 
remaining.  Deut.  iii.  33. — Because  Said  was  commanded  utterly  to 
destroy  the  sinners,  the  Amalekites,  and  lost  bis  crown  for  sparing  their 
king.  Because  when  God  overthrew  Pharaoh  and  all  his  host  there 
remained  not  so  much  as  one  of  them.  Exod.  xiv.  28.  Because  when 
God  rained  fire  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  he  overthrew  all  their 
[wicked]  inhabitants : — and  because  Moses  says,  /  took  your  sin,  the 
calf  which  ye  had  made,  and  burnt  it  with  fire,  and  stamped  it,  and 
ground  it  very  small,  even  until  it  was  as  stnall  as  dust,  and  cast  the 
dust  thereof  into  the  brook.  Deut.  ix.  21.  But  we  should  blush  to 
build  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  upon  so  absurd  and  slender 
a  foundation.  And  yet  such  a  foundation  would  be  far  more  solid  than 
that  on  which  Mr.  Henry  builds  the  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfec- 
tion, and  of  the  wecessar^/ indwelling  of  sin  in  the  most  holy  believers: 
for 

2.  Before  God  permitted  the  Canaanites  to  remain  in  the  land, 
he  had  said,  "  when  ye  are  passed  over  Jordan,  then  ye  shall  drive 
out  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  before  you,  and  destroy  all  their 
pictures  : — for  I  have  given  you  the  land  to  possess  it. — ^But,  if  ye 
will  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants  io{  the  land  before  you,  then  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  those  which  ye  let  remain  of  them  shall  be 
pricks  in  your  eyes,  and  thorns  in  your  sides,  and  shall  vex  you  in  the 
land  wherein  you  dwell.  And  moreover  I  shall  do  unto  you,  as  I 
thought  to  do  unto  them.''^  Numb,  xxxiii.  51,  &c.  Hence  it  appears, 
that  the  sparing  of  the  Canaanites  was  a  punishment  inflicted  upon 
the  Israelites,  as  well  as  a  favour  shown  to  the  Canaanites,  some  of 
whom,  like  Rahab  and  the  Gibeonites,  probably  turned  to  the  Lord, 
and  as  God^s  creatures,  enjoyed  his  saving  mercy  in  the  land  of  pro- 
mise. But  is  indwelling  sin  one  of  God^s  creatures,  that  God  should 
show  it  any  favour,  and  should  refuse  his  assistance  to  the  faithful 
believers  who  are  determined  to  give  it  no  quarter  ?  Can  indwelling 
sin  be  converted  to  God,  as  the  indwelling  Canaanites  might,  and  as 
some  of  them  undoubtedly  were  ? 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  307 

3.  But  the  capital  flaws  of  Mr.  Hennfs  argument  are,  1  apprehend, 
two  suppositions,  the  absurdity  of  which  is  glaring  :  "  Corruption 
[says  he]  is  left  remaining  in  the  hearts  of  good  Christians,  that  they 
may  learn  war,  may  keep  on  the  whole  armour  of  God,  and  stand 
continually  upon  their  guard."  Just  as  if  Christ  had  not  learned  war, 
kept  on  the  breast-plate  of  righteousness,  and  stood  continually  upon  his 
guards  without  the  help  of  indwelhng  sin  ! — ^just  as  if  the  world,  the 
devil,  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  and  death,  our  last  enemy,  with  which 
our  Lord  so  severely  conflicted,  were  not  adversaries  powerful  enough 
to  prove  us,  to  engage  us  to  learn  war,  and  to  make  us  keep  on  and 
use  the  whole  armour  of  God  to  the  end  of  our  life ! — The  other 
absurd  supposition  is,  that  "  pride,  and  security,  and  other  sins,^^  which 
are  supposed  to  be  typified  by  the  wild  beasts  mentioned  in  Deut  vii. 
22.  will  increase  upon  us  by  the  destruction  of  indwelling  sin.  But  is 
it  not  as  ridiculous  to  suppose  this,  as  to  say,  pride  will  increase  upoQ 
us  by  the  destruction  of  pride  ;  and  carnal  security  will  gather  strength 
by  the  extirpation  of  carnal  security,  and  by  the  implanting  o(  constant 
watchfulness,  which  is  a  branch  of  the  Christian  perfection  which  we 
contend  for?" 

4.  With  respect  to  the  inference  which  Mr.  Henry  draws  from 
these  words.  Thou  mayest  not  consume  them  at  once :  the  Lord  will  put 
them  out  before  thee  by  little  and  little  ;  is  it  not  highly  absurd  also  ? 
Does  he  give  us  the  shadow  of  an  argument  to  prove,  that  this  verse 
was  spoken  of  our  indwelling  corruptions?  And  suppose  it  was, 
would  this  prove  that  the  doctrine  of  death  purgatory  is  true  ?  You 
say  to  a  greedy  person  you  must  eat  your  dinner  by  little  and  little,  you 
cannot  swallow  it  down  at  one  gulp  :  a  farmer  teaches  his  son  to  plough, 
and  says,  We  cannot  plough  this  field  at  once,  but  we  may  plough  it  by 
little  and  little,  i.  e.  by  making  one  furrow  after  another,  till  we  end  the 
last  furrow.  Hence  1  draw  the  following  inferences :  we  eat  our  meals, 
and  plough  our  fields,  by  little  and  little ;  and  therefore  no  dinner  can 
be  eaten,  and  no  field  ploughed  before  death.  A  surgeon  says  that  the 
healing  of  a  wound  "  is  carried  on  gradually  :^^  hence  his  prejudiced 
mate  runs  away  with  the  notion,  that  no  wound  can  be  healed  so  long  as 
a  patient  is  alive.     Who  does  not  see  the  flaw  of  these  conclusions  ? 

5.  But  the  greatest  absurdity,  I  apprehend,  is  yet  behind.  Not  to 
observe,  that  we  do  not  remember  to  have  read  any  command  in  our 
Bibles  not  to  consume  sin  at  once:  or  any  declaration,  that  God  will 
put  it  out  0}dy  "  by  little  and  little :"  we  ask.  What  length  of  time  do 
you  suppose  God  means  ?  You  make  him  say  that  he  will  make  an 
end  of  our  indwelling  sin  by  little  and  little  ;  do  you  think  he  means  four 
days,  four  years,  or  fourscore  years  ? — if  }ou  say  that  God  cannot  or 


^08  TlfE   LAST   CHECK 

will  not  wholly  cleanse  the  thoughts  of  our  hearts  isnder  fourscore 
years,  you  send  .11  who  die  under  that  age  into  hell,  or  into  some  pur° 
gatory  where  they  aiust  wait  till  the  eighty  years  of  their  conflict 
with  indwelling  sin  are  ended. — If  you  say,  that  God  can  or  will  do  it 
in  four  days,  hut  not  under;  you  absurdly  suppose  that  the  penitent 
thief  remained  at  least  three  days  in  Paradise  full  of  indnelling  sin; 
seeing  his  sanclification  was  to  be  "  carried  on  grudnally''^  in  the  space 
of  four  days  at  least. — If  you  are  obliged  to  grant,  that,  when  the 
words,  by  little  and  little,  are  applied  to  the  destruction  of  indwelling 
sin.  they  may  mean  four  hours  [the  time  which  the  penitent  thief 
probably  lived  after  his  conversion]  as  well  as  four  days;  do  not  you 
begin  to  be  ashamed  of  your  system  ?  And  if  you  reply,  that  death 
alone  fully  extirpates  indwf^lling  sin  ;  does  not  this  favourite  tenet 
of  yours  overturn  Mr.  Henry^s  doctrine  about  the  necessity  of  the 
slow,  *'  graduaf^  destruction  of  indwelling  sin  ?  May  not  a  sinner 
believe  in  a  moment,  when  God  helps  him  to  believe  ?  And  may  not  a 
believer  [whom  you  suppose  necessarily  full  of  indwelling  sin  as  long 
as  he  is  in  this  world]  die  in  a  moment? — If  you  answer  in  the  nega- 
iive,  you  deny  the  sudden  death  oi  John  the  Baptist,  St.  James,  and  St. 
Paul,  who  had  their  heads  cut  otf  in  a  moment:— In  a  word,  you 
deny  that  any  believer  can  die  suddenly. — If  you  reply  in  the  affirma- 
tive, you  give  up  the  point,  and  grant  that  indwelling  sin  may  be 
instantaneously  destroyed.  And  now  what  becomes  of  Mr.  Henry^s 
argument,  which  suppo.^es  that  sanctitication  can  never  be  complete 
without  a  long,  gradual  process ;  and  that  the  extirpation  of  sin  can- 
not take  place  but  "  by  little  and  little  P'^ 

I  have  set  before  thee,  reader,  the  lights  and  shades  of  our  doc- 
trine :  I  have  produced  our  arguments,  and  those  of  our  opponents  ; 
and  now,  say  which  of  them  bear  the  stamp  of  imperfection?  !f  thou 
pronounce  that  Urim  and  Thummim,  light  and  perfection,  belong  to 
the  arguments  of  Mr.  Hill,  Mr  Toplady,  Mr.  Martin,  and  Mr.  Henrys 
I  must  lay  down  ray  pen,  and  deplore  the  infelicity  of  our  having  a 
reason,  which  unsays  in  ray  breast  what  it  says  in  thine.  But  if  thou 
find,  after  mature  deliberation,  that  our  arguments  are  light  in  the 
Lord,  as  being  more  agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  unprejudiced  reason, 
than  those  of  our  antagonists,  more  conformable  to  the  plain  declara- 
tions of  the  Sacred  Writers,  titter  to  encourage  believers  in  the  way 
of  holiness,  more  suitable  to  the  nature  of  undefiled  religion,  and 
better  adapted  to  the  display  of  the  Redeemer's  glory  ;  I  shall  enjoy 
the  double  pleasure  of  embracing  the  Truth,  and  of  embracing  her 
together  mith  thee:  in  the  mean  time,  closing  here  the  argumentative 
part  of  this  Essay,  I  just  beg  the  continuance  of  thy  favourable  atten- 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  309 

tion,  while  F  practically  address  perfect  Pharisees,  prejudiced  Imper- 
fectioQists,  imperfect  believers,  and  perfect  Christians. 

SECTION  XVII. 

An  Address  to  perfect  Christian  Pharisees. 

I  ADDRESS  you  Jirst,  ye  perfect  Christian  Pharisees ;  beca«se  ye 
are  most  ready  to  profess  Christian  perfection,  though  alas  I  ye  stand 
at  the  greatest  distance  from  perfect  humility,  the  grace  which  is  most 
essential  to  the  perfect  Christian's  character ;  and  because  the  ene- 
mies of  our  doctrine  make  use  of  you  Jirst^  when  they  endeavour  to 
root  it  up  from  the  earth. 

That  ye  may  know  whom  I  mean  by  perfect  Chriatian  Pharisees, 
give  me  leave  to  show  you  your  own  picture  in  the  glass  of  a  plain 
description.  Ye  have  professedly  entered  into  the  fold  where  Christ's 
sheep,  which  are  perfected  in  love,  rest  all  at  each  other's  feet,  and 
at  the  feet  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  But  how  have  ye  entered  '—By 
Christ  the  door?  or  at  the  door  of  presumption  ? — Not  by  Christ  the 
door :  for  Christ  is  meekness  and  lowliness  manifested  in  the  (lesh  : 
but  ye  are  still  ungentle  and  fond  of  praise.  When  he  pours  out  his 
soul  as  a  divine  Prophet,  he  says,  Learn  of  me.  for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart ;  take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your 
souls.  But  ye  overlook  this  humble  door.  Your  proud  gigantic 
minds  are  above  stooping  low  enough  to  follow  Him  who  made  himself 
of  no  reputation  that  he  might  raise  us  to  heavenly  honours  ;  and  who, 
to  pour  just  contempt  upon  human  pride,  had  his  first  night's  lodging 
in  a  stable,  and  spent  his  last  night  partly  on  the  cold  ground  in  a 
storm  of  divine  wrath,  and  partly  in  an  ignominious  confinement, 
exposed  to  the  greatest  indignities  which  Jews  and  Gentiles  could 
p(»ur  upon  him.  He  rested  his  infant  head  upon  hay,  his  dying  head 
upon  thorns.  A  manger  was  his  cradle,  and  a  cross  his  death-bed. 
Thirty  years  he  travelled  from  the  sordid  stable  to  the  accursed  tree, 
unnoticed  by  his  own  peculiar  people.  In  the  brightest  of  his  days 
poor  fishermen,  some  Galilean  woman,  and  a  company  of  shouting 
children,  formed  all  his  retinue.  Shepherds  were  his  first  attendants, 
and  malefactors  his  last  companions. 

His  first  beatitude  was.  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit ;  and  tlie  last, 
Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  say  all 
manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely  for  my  sake.  His  first  doctrine  was 
Repent :  nor  was  the  last  unlike  to  it ;  If  I  have  washed  ijour  feet,  ye 
ought  also  to  wash  one  another^s  feet,  for  I  have  given  you  an  example 


310  THE    LAST    CHECK 

that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you.-^He  that  will  he  first  among  you 
let  him  he  the  least  of  all.  Now  far  from  practising  with  godly  sin- 
cerity this  last  lesson  of  our  humble  Lord,  you  do  not  so  much  as 
truly  relish  the j^rs^.  Ye  do  not  delight  in,  nay,  ye  abhor  penitential 
poverty  of  spirit.  Your  humility  is  not  cordial,  and  wrought  into 
your  nature  by  grace  :  but  complimental,  and  woven  into  your 
carriage  by  art.  Ye  are  humble  in  looks,  in  gestures,  in  voice,  in 
dress,  in  behaviour ;  so  far  as  external  humility  helps  you  to  secure 
(he  reputation  of  perfect  Christians,  at  which  ye  aspire  from  a  motive 
of  Pharisaic  ambition  ;  but  ye  continue  strangers  to  the  childlike 
simplicity,  and  unaffected  lowliness  of  Christ's  perfect  disciples.  Ye 
are  the  very  reverse  of  those  Israelites  in  whom  there  is  no  guile.  Ye 
resemble  tlie  artful  Giheonites^  who  for  a  time  imposed  upon  Joshua's 
artless  simplicity.  Your  feigned  profession  of  special  grace  deceives 
those  of  God's  children,  who  have  more  of  the  simplicity  of  the 
dove  than  of  the  serpent's  wisdom.  Ye  choose  the  lowest  place,  but 
ye  do  not  love  it.  If  ye  cheerfully  take  it,  it  is  not  among  your  equals^ 
but  among  your  inferiors  :  because  you  think  that  such  a  condescending 
step  may  raise  the  credit  of  your  humility,  without  endangering  your 
superiority  :  if  ye  stoop,  and  go  down,  it  is  not  because  ye  see  your- 
selves unworthy  of  the  seat  of  honour;  but  because  ye  hope  that 
people  will  by  and  by  say  to  you.  Come  up  higher.  Your  pharisaic 
cunning  aims  at  once  art  wearing  the  coronet  of  genuine  humility,  and 
the  crown  of  self-exalting  pride.  Ye  love  to  be  esteemed  of  men  for 
your  goodness  and  devotion  :  ye  want  to  be  admired  for  your  exact- 
ness, zeal,  and  gracious  attainments.  The  pride  of  the  Jewish  Phari- 
sees was  coarse  in  comparison  of  yours.  They  wore  the  rough  gar- 
ment, and  you  wear  the  silks  of  spiritual  vanity  :  and  even  when  ye 
die  them  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  which  you  extol  in  word,  it  is  to 
draw  the  confidence  of  humble  Christians  by  your  Christian  appear- 
ance and  language,  more  than  to  follow  the  propensity  of  a  new 
nature,  which  loves  to  be  clothed  with  humility,  and  feels  itself  in  its 
own  centre,  when  it  rests  in  deep  poverty  of  spirit,  and  sees  that  God 
IS  all  in  all. 

One  of  the  greatest  ends  of  Christ's  coming  into  the  world,  was  to 
empty  us  of  ourselves,  and  to  fill  us  with  bumble  love  ;  but  ye  are 
still  full  of  yourselves,  and  void  of  Christ,  that  is,  void  of  humility 
incarnate.  Ye  still  aim  at  some  wrong  mark  :  whether  it  be  self- 
glory,  self-interest,  self-pleasure,  self-party,  or  self-applause.  In  a 
word,  one  selfish  scheme  or  another,  contrary  to  the  pure  love  of 
God  and  of  your  neighbour,  secretly  destroys  the  root  of  your  pro- 
fession, and  may  be  compared  to  the  jjnseen   worm   that  ate   the 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  "Sll 

wot  of  Jonah's  gourd.  Ye  have  a  narrow,  contracted  spirit :  ye  do 
not  gladly  sacrifice  your  private  satisfaction,  your  interest,  your  repu- 
tation, your  prejudices,  to  the  general  interest  of  truth  and  love^  and 
to  the  public  good  of  the  whole  body  of  Christ.  Ye  are  in  secret 
bondage  to  men,  places,  and  things.  Ye  do  not  heartily  entertain  the 
wisdom  from  above,  which  is  pure,  gentle,  easy  to  be  entreated,  and 
full  of  mercy. — Nay,  ye  are  above  conviction  :  gross  sinners  yield  to 
truth  before  you.  Like  Je/m,  ye  are  zealous,  and  ye  pretend  that  it 
is  for  the  Lord  of  hosts  :  but  alas  !  it  is  for  your  opinions,  your  party, 
your  honour.  In  a  word,  ye  do  not  walk  in  constant,  solemn  expect- 
ation of  death  and  judgment :  your  will  is  not  broken  :  your  carnal 
confidence  is  yet  alive  :  the  heavenly  dove  does  not  sit  in  your 
breast :  self,  wrapt  up  in  the  cloak  of  humility,  is  still  set  up  in  your 
hearts,  and  in  secret  you  serve  thafcursed  idol  more  than  God.  Satan, 
transformed  into  an  angel  of  light,  has  artfully  led  you  to  the  profession 
of  Christian  perfection  through  a  circle  of  external  performances, 
through  glorious  forms  of  doctrine  in  the  letter,  and  through  a  fair 
show  of  zeal  for  complete  holiness :  the  Lord,  to  punish  your 
formality,  has  in  part  given  you  up  to  your  delusion  :  and  now,  ye  as 
much  believe  yourselves  perfect  Christians,  as  the  Pharisees,  in  our 
Lord's  day,  believed  themselves  ferfect  Jews. 

Mr.  Wesley^  in  his  Plain  Account  of  Christian  Perfection,  has  borne 
his  faithful  testimony  against  such  witnesses  of  perfect  love  as  ye  are. 
If  ye  despise  this  address,  regard  his  remarks.  *'  Others  [says  he] 
who  think  they  have  the  direct  witness  of  their  being  renewed  in 
love,  are  nevertheless  manifestly  wanting  in  the  fruit. — Some  are 
undoubtedly  wanting  in  long -sufferings  Christian  resignation.  They 
do  not  see  the  hand  of  God  in  whatever  occurs,  and  cheerfully 
embrace  it.  They  do  not  in  every  thing  give  thanks,  and  rejoice  ever- 
more. They  are  not  happy  ;  at  least  not  alzi^ays  happy.  For  some- 
times they  complain.  They  say,  '  This  is  hard!' — Some  are  wanting 
in  gentleness.  They  resist  evil,  instead  of  turning  the  other  cheek. 
They  do  not  receive  reproach  with  gentleness  ;  no,  nor  even  reproof. 
Nay,  they  are  notable  to  bear  contradiction  without  the  appearance, 
at  least,  of  resentment.  If  they  are  reproved,  or  contradicted, 
though  mildly,  they  do  not  take  it  well.  Thoy  behave  with  more 
distance  and  reserve  than  they  did  before,  &:c. — Some  are  wanting  in 
goodness.  They  are  not  kind,  mild,  sweet,  amiable,  soft,  and  loving 
at  all  times,  in  their  spirit,  in  their  words,  in  their  look,  in  their 
air,  in  the  whole  tenor  of  their  behaviour  ;  not  kind  to  all,  high  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  without  respect  of  persons  ;  particularly  to  them 
that  are  out  of  the  way,  to  opposers,  and  to  those  of  their  own  house- 


312  THE   LAST   check: 

hold.  They  do  not  long,  study,  endeavour  by  every  mean,  to 
make  all  about  them  happy. — Some  are  wanting  in  fidelity,  a  nice 
regard  to  truth,  simplicity,  and  godly  sincerity.  Their  love  is  hardly 
without  dissimulation :  something  like  guile  is  found  in  their  mouth. 
To  avoid  roughness  they  lean  to  the  other  extreme.  They  are 
smooth  to  an  excess,  so  as  scarce  to  avoid  a  degree  of  fawning. — 
Some  are  wanting  in  meekness,  quietness  of  spirit,  composure,  evenness 
of  temper.  They  are  up  and  down,  sometimes  high,  sometimes  low  ; 
their  mind  is  not  well  balanced.  There  affections  are  either  not  in 
due  proportion ;  they  have  too  much  of  the  one,  too  little  of  the 
other  :  or  they  are  not  duly  mixt  and  tempered  together  so  as  to 
counterpoise  each  other.  Hence  there  is  often  a  jar.  Their  soul 
is  out  of  tune,  and  cannot  make  the  true  harmony. — Some  are  wanting 
in  temperance.  They  do  not  steadily  use  that  kind  and  degree  of 
food,  which  they  know,  or  might  know,  would  most  conduce  to  the 
health,  strength,  and  vigour  of  the  body.  Or  they  are  not  temperate 
in  sleep  :  they  do  not  rigorously  adhere  to  what  is  best  for  body  and 
mind      They  use  neither  fasting  nor  abstinence,"  &c. 

I  have  dt^scribed  your  delusion  :  but  who  can  describe  its  fatal  con- 
sequences ?  Who  can  tell  the  mischief  it  has  done,  and  continues  to 
do?  The  few  sincere  perfectionists,  and  the  multitude  of  captious 
imperfectionists,  have  equally  found  you  out.  The  former  are 
grieved  for  you  ;  and  the  latter  triumph  through  you. 

When  the  sincere  perfectionists  consider  the  inconsistency  of  your 
profession,  they  are  ready  to  give  up  their  faith  in  Christ's  all-clean- 
sing blood,  and  their  hope  of  getting  a  clean  heart  in  this  life.  They 
are  tempted  to  follow  the  multitude  of  professors,  who  sit  down  in 
self  imputed  righteousness,  or  in  Solifidian  notions  of  an  ideal  perfec- 
tion in  Christ.  And  it  is  well  if  some  of  them  have  not  already 
yielded  to  the  temptation,  and  begun  to  fight  against  the  hopes  which 
they  once  entertained  of  loving  God  with  all  their  hearts.  It  is 
well  if  some,  through  you,  have  not  been  led  to  say;  "I  once 
sweetly  enjoyed  the  thought  of  doing  the  will  of  God  on  earth, 
as  it  IS  done  in  heaven.  Once  I  hopefully  prayed,  God  would  so 
cleanse  my  heart,  that  I  might  perfectly  love  him,  and  worthily 
magnify  his  holy  name  in  this  world.  But  now  I  have  renounced 
my  hopes,  and  1  equally  abhor  the  doctrine  of  evangelical  perfection^ 
and  that  of  evangelical  worthiness.  When  I  was  a  young  convert,  I 
believed  that  Christ  could  really  make  an  end  of  all  moral  pollution, 
cast  out  the  man  of  sin,  and  cleanse  us  from  the  sins  of  the  heart, 
as  well  as  from  outward  iniquity  in  this  life  ;  but  I  soon  met  with 
unhumbled,   self-willed  people,   who,   boldly   standing  up  for  this 


TO    ANTIN0MIANI3M.  313 

glorious  liberty,  made  me  question  the  truth  of  the  doctrine.  Nay, 
in  process  of  time,  I  found  that  some  of  those  who  most  confidently 
professed  to  have  attained  this  salvation  were  farther  from  the  gentle- 
ness, simplicity,  catholic  spirit,  and  unfeigned  humility  of  Christ,  than 
many  believers  who  had  never  considered  the  doctrine  of  Christian 
perfection.  These  offences  striking  in  with  the  disappointment  which 
I  myself  met  with,  in  feebly  seeking  the  pearl  of  perfect  love,  made 
me  conclude  that  it  can  no  more  be  found  than  the  philosopher's  stone, 
and  that  they  are  all  either  fools  or  knaves  who  set  believers  'upon 
seeking  it.  And  now  I  every  where  decry  the  doctrine  of  perfection 
as  a  dangerous  delusion.  I  set  people  against  it  wherever  I  go ;  and 
my  zeal  in  this  respect  has  been  attended  with  the  greatest  suc- 
cess. I  have  damped  the  hopes  of  many  perfectionists  ;  and  I  have 
proselyted  several  to  the  doctrine  of  Christian  imperfection.  With 
them  I  now  quietly  wait  to  be  purified  from  indwelling  sin  in  the 
article  of  death,  and  to  be  made  perfect  in  another  world." 

This  is,  I  fear,  the  langauge  of  many  hearts,  although  it  is  not 
openly  spoken  by  many  lips.  Thus  are  you,  O  ye  perfect  Pharisees, 
the  great  instruments,  by  which  the  tempter  tears  away  the  shield 
of  those  unsettled  Israelites  who  look  more  at  your  inconsistencies, 
than  they  do  at  the  beauty  of  holiness,  the  promise  of  God,  the  blood' 
of  Christ,  and  the  power  of  the  Spirit. 

But  this  is  not  all :  as  ye  destroy  the  budding  faith  of  sincere  per- 
fectionists, so  ye  strengthen  the  unbelief  of  the  Solifidians.  Through 
you  their  prejudices  are  grown  up  into  a  fixed  detestation  of  Christian 
perfection.  Ye  have  hardened  the  m  in  their  error,  and  furnished 
them  with  plausible  arguments  to  destroy  the  truth  which  ye  contend 
for.  Did  ye  never  hear  their  triumphs?  "  Ha!  Ha!  So  would  we 
have  it !  These  are  some  of  the  people  who  stand  up  for  sinless 
perfection  !  They  are  all  alike.  Did  not  I  tell  you,  that  you  would 
find  them  out  to  be  no  better  than  temporary  monsters  ?  What  mon- 
strous pride  ?  What  touchiness,  obstinacy,  bigotry,  and  stoicism 
characterizes  them !  How  do  they  strain  at  gnats  and  swallow 
camels  ?  I  had  rather  be  an  open  drunkard  than  a  perfectionist. 
Publicans  and  harlots  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  before 
them.*' — These  are  the  cutting  speeches  to  which  your  glaring 
inconsistency,  and  the  severe  prejudices  of  our  opponents  give 
birth.  Is  it  not  deplorable  that  your  tempers  should  thus  drive  men 
i.0  abhor  the  doctrine  which  your  lips  recommend! 

And  what  do  you  get  by  thus  dispiriting  the  real  friends  of  Chris- 
tian perfection,  and  by  furnishing  its  sworn  enemies  with  such  sharp 
weapons  against  it  ?  Think  ye  that  the  mischief  ye  do  shall  not  rncoil 
vof..   IV.  40 


314  THE  LAST  CHECK 

upon  yourselves?  Is  not  Christ  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for 
ever  ?  If  he  detested  the  perfect  Pharisaisai  of  unhumbled  Jews, 
will  he  admire  the  perfect  self-righteousness  of  aspiring  Christians? 
If  he  formerly  resisted  the  proud,  and  gave  grace  to  the  humble^  what 
reason  have  ye  to  hope  that  he  will  submit  to  your  spiritual  pride, 
and  reward  j'our  religious  ostentation  with  a  crown  of  glory  ?  Ye 
perhaps  cry  out  against  Anlinomianism,  and  I  commend  you  for  it :  . 
but  are  ye  not  deeply  tainted  with  the  worst  sort  of  Antinomianism, 
— that  which  starches,  stiflfens,  and  swells  the  soul  ?  Ye  justly  bear 
your  testimony  against  those  who  render  the  law  of  Christ  of  none 
effect  to  believers,  by  degrading  it  into  a  rule  which  they  stript  of 
the  punitive  and  remunerative  sanctions,  with  which  it  stands  armed 
in  the  sacred  records.  But  are  ye  not  doubly  guilty,  who  maintain 
lliat  this  law  is  still  in  force  as  a  law,  and  nevertheless  refuse  to  pay  it 
sincere,  internal  obedience  ?  For  when  ye  break  the T??"*^  command- 
ment of  Christ's  evangelical  law,  by  practically  discarding  peniten- 
tial poverty  of  spirit ;  and  when  ye  transgress  the  last,  by  abhorring 
the  lo-west  place,  by  disdaining  to  wash  each  other"* s- feet,  and  by  refus- 
ing to  prefer  others  in  honour  before  yourselves ;  are  ye  not  guilty  of 
breaking  all  the  law  by  breaking  it  in  one  point — in  the  capital  point 
•of  humble  love,  which  runs  through  all  the  parts  of  the  law,  as  vital 
blood  does  through  all  the  parts  of  the  body  ?  O  how  much  more 
dangerous  is  the  case  of  an  unhumbled  man,  who  stiffly  walks  in  robes 
oi^  self-made  perfection,  than  that  of  an  humble  man,  who  through  pre- 
judice, and  the  force  of  example,  meeA;/?/  walks  in  robes  o(  self 
imputed  righteousness !       .         ■ 

Behold;  thou  callest  thyself  a  perfect  Christian,  rsnd  restest  in  the 
evangelical  law  of  Christ,  which  is  commonly  called  the  Gospel ;  thou 
makest  thy  boast  of  God  ;  and  knowest  his  will,  and  approvest  the 
things  that  are  more  excellent,  even  the  way  of  Christian  perfection, 
being  instructed  out  of  the  Gospel  :  and  art  confident  that  thou  thy- 
Keif  art  a  guide  of  the  blind,  a  light  of  them  who  are  in  darkness,  an 
r.istructer  of  the  foolish,  and  a  teacher  of  babes,  or  imperfect  be- 
lievers ;  having  the  form  of  knowledge,  and  of  the  truth  in  the  GospeL 
Thou  therefore  who  teachest  another,  teachest  thou  not  thyself? 
Thou  that  preachest  another  should  not  break  the  law  of  Christ, 
through  breaking  it  dishonourest  thou  God  ?  For  the  name  of  God  is 
blasphemed  through  you,  among ^;hose  who  seek  an  occasion  to  blas- 
pheme it.  Romans  ii.  17,  &;c.  And  think  ye  that  ye  shall  escape 
ths  righteous  judgment  of  God  ?  Has  Christ  no  woes  but  for  the 
Jewish  Pharisees  ?  O  be  no  longer  mistaken.  Before  ye  are  punish- 
ed by  being  here  given  up  to  a  reprobate  n)ind,  and  by  being  here- 


TO     ANTINOMIANISM.  315 

after  cast  into  the  hell  of  hypocrites,  the  outer  darkness,  where  there 
will  be  more  weeping,  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  than  in  any 
other  hell ! — before  ye  are  overtaken  by  the  awful  hour  of  death, 
and  the  dreadful  day  of  judgment ;  practically  learn,  that  Christian 
perfection  is  the  mind  which  Tx^as  in  Christ; — especially  hh  humble ^ 
meek,  quiet  mind ; — his  gentle,  free,  loving  spirit.  Aim  at  it  by  sink- 
ing into  deep  self-abhorrence  ;  and  not  by  using,  as  ye  have  hitherto 
done,  the  empty  talk  and  profession  of  Christian  perfection,  as  a  step 
to  reach  the  top  of  spiritual  pride. 

Mistake  me  not :  1  do  not  blame  you  for  holding  the  doctrine  of 
Christian  perfection,  but  for  wilfully  missing  the  only  way  that  leada 
to  it ;  I  mean  the  humble,  meek,  and  loving  Jesus,  who  says,  /  am 
the  way,  and  the  door :  by  me,  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved 
into  so  great  salvation.  He  that  entereth  not  by  this  door  into  this  sheep- 
fold,  but  climbeth  up  some  other  way  ;  [and  especially  he  that  climbelh 
by  the  way  of  Pharisaic  formality],  the  same  is  a  thief  and  a  robber  : 
he  robs  Christ  of  his  glory,  and  pretends  to  what  he  has  no  more 
right  to,  than  a  thief  has  to  your  property.  Would  ye  then  be  right  ? 
Do  not  cast  away  the  doctrine  of  an  evangelically  sinless  holiness  ; 
but  contend  more  for  it  with  your  heart  than  with  your  lips.  With  all 
your  soul  press  after  such  a  perfection  as  Christ,  St.  Paul,  and  St. 
John  taught  and  exemplified ; — a  perfection  of  meekness  and  humble 
love.  Earnestly  believe  all  the  woes  which  the  Gospel  denounces 
against  self-righteous  Pharisees,  and  all  the  blessings  which  it  pro- 
mises to  perfect  penitents.  Drink  less  into  the  letter,  and  more  into 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  till  like'a  fountain'of  living  water,  it  spring  up 
to  everlasting  life  in  your  heart.  Ye  have  climbed  to  the  Pharisaic 
perfection  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  when  touching  .the  righteousness  of  the 
law,  he  was  blameless.  Would  ye  now  attain  the  evangelical  perfec- 
tion which  he  was  possessed  of  when  he  said.  Let  us,  as  many  as  art 
perfect,  be  thus  minded  ?  Only  follow  him  through  the  regeneration  : 
fall  to  the  dust  before  God  :  rise  conscious  of  the  blindness  of  your 
heart,  meekly  deplore  it  with  penitential  shame  :  and  if  you  follow 
the  directions  laid  down  in  the  third  address,  I  doubt  not  but,  danger- 
ous as  your  case  is  at  present,  you  will  be,  like  St.  Paul,  as  eminent 
for  Christian  perfection,  as  you  have  hitherto  been  for  Pharisaic 
formality. 


316  THE    LAST    CHECM 

SECTION  XVIII. 

An  Address  to  Prejudiced  Imperfectionists. 

I  FEAR,  that  next  to  the  persons  whom  I  have  just  addressed,  ye 
injure  the  cause  of  holiness,  O  ye  behevers,  who  have  been  deluded 
into  doctrinal  Antinomianism,  by  the  bad  arguments  which  are 
answered  in  the  preceding  pages.  Permit  me  therefore  to  address 
you  next :  nor  suffer  prejudice  to  make  you  throw  away  this  expostu- 
lation, before  you  have  granted  it  a  fair  perusal. 

Ye  directly  or  indirectly  plead  for  the  necessary  continuance  of 
indwelling  sin  in  your  own  hearts,  and  in  the  hearts  of  all  true  Chris- 
tians. But  may  I  be  so  bold  as  to  ask.  Who  gave  you  leave  so  to  do  ? 
And  when  were  ye  commissioned  to  propagate  this  unholy  Gospel  ? 
Was  it  at  your  baptism,  when  ye  were  ranked  among  Christ's  soldiers, 
and  received  a  Christian  name,  in  token  that  ye  would  keep  God's  holy 
will  and  commandments  all  the  days  of  your  life?  and  that  you  would 
not  be  ashamed  to  fight  manfully  against  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil, 
unto  your  life's  end  ?  Are  not  these  three  enemies  strong  enough 
sufficiently  to  exercise  your  patience,  and  to  try  your  warlike  skill  to 
the  last  ?  Did  your  sponsors  promise  for  you  that  you  would  quarter  a 
fourth  enemy,  called  indwelling  sin,  in  your  very  breast,  lest  ye  should 
not  have  enemies  enough  to  fight  against  ?  On  the  contrary,  were  ye 
not  exhorted  *'  utterly  to  abolish  the  whole  body  of  sin?'^  If  so  ;  is  it 
not  strange  that  ye  should  spend  part  of  your  precious  time  in  plead- 
ing, under  various  pretexts,  for  the  preservation  of  heart-sin,  a  sin 
this,  which  gives  life,  warmth  and  vigour,  to  the  whole  body  of  sin? 
And  is  it  not  deplorable,  that  instead  of  conscientiously  fulfilling  your 
baptismal  engagements,  ye  should  attack  those  who  desire  to  fulfil 
them  by  seeking  to  have  the  whole  body  of  sin  utterly  abolished  ? 

But  ye  are,  perhaps,  ministers  of  the  established  church  :  and  in 
this  case,  I  ask,  When  did  the  bishop  send  you  upon  this  strange  war- 
fare ?  Was  it  at  your  confirmation,  in  which  he  bound  you  upon  your 
solemn  obligations  to  keep  God^s  holy  will  and  commandments,  so  as 
utterly  to  abolish  the  whole  body  of  sin  ?  Is  it  probable  that  he  com- 
missioned you  to  pull  down  what  he  confirmed;  and  to  demolish  the 
perfection  which  he  made  you  vow  to  attain,  and  to  walk  in  all  the 
days  of  your  life  ?  If  the  bishop  gave  you  no  such  commission  at  your 
confirmation,  did  he  do  it  at  your  ordination,  when  he  said.  Receive 
authority  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  ?  Is  there  no  difference  betweef* 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  317 

tke  Word  of  God,  which  cuts  up  all  sin,  root  and  branch ;  and  the 
word  of  Satan,  which  asserts  the  propriety  of  the  continuance  of 
heart-sin  during  the  term  of  life  ? — If  not :  did  the  bishop  do  it  when 
he  exhorted  and  charged  you  "  never  to  cease  your  labour,  care,  and 
diligence,  till  you  have  done  all  that  lieth  in  you,  to  bring  all  such  as 
are  committed  to  your  charge,  to  that  agreement  of  faith,  and  that  per- 
fectness  of  age  in  Christ,  that  there  shall  be  no  place  left  among  you, 
for  error  in  religion,  or  viciousness  in  life  ;" — that  is,  I  apprehend, 
till  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  love  of  the  Spirit,  have  perfectly 
purified  the  minds,  and  renewed  the  hearts  of  all  your  hearers  ? 

How  can  ye,  in  all  your  confessions  and  sacramental  offices, 
renounce  sin,  the  accursed  thing  which  God  abhors,  and  which  obe- 
dient believers  detest ;  and  yet  plead  for  its  life,  its  strength,  its  con- 
stant energy,  so  long  as  we  are  in  this  world  ?  We  could  better  bear 
with  you  if  ye  appropriated  a  hand  or  a  foot,  an  eye  or  an  ear  to  sin, 
during  the  term  of  life  :  but  who  can  bear  your  pleas  for  the  neces- 
sary continuance  of  sin  in  the  heart?  Is  it  not  enough  that  this  mur- 
derer •of  Christ  and  all  mankind,  rambles  about  the  walls  of  the  city  ? 
Will  ye  still  insinuate  that  he  must  have  the  citadel  to  the  last,  and 
keep  it  garrisoned  with  filthy  lusts,  base  aflfections,  bad  tempers,  or 
"  diabolonians,"  who,  like  prisoners,  show  themselves  at  the  grate; 
and  'Mike  snakes,  toads,  and  wild  beasts,  are  the  fiercer  for  being 
confined  ?"  Who  has  taught  you  thus  to  represent  Christ  as  the 
keeper,  and  not  the  destroyer  of  our  corruptions?  If  believers  be 
truly  willing  to  get  rid  of  sin,  but  cannot,  because  Christ  has  bolted 
their  hearts  with  an  adamantine  decree,  which  prevents  sin  from  being 
turned  out :— if  he  have  irrevocably  given  leave  to  indwelling  sin,  to 
quarter  for  life  in  every  Christian's  heart,  as  the  king  of  France,  in 
the  last  century,  gave  leave  to  his  dragoons  to  quarter  for  some  months 
in  the  houses  of  the  poor  oppressed  Protestants  ;  who  does  not  see 
that  Christ  may  be  called  the  protector  of  indwelling  sin,  rather  than 
its  enemy? 

Ye  absurdly  complain  that  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  does 
not  exalt  our  Saviour,  because  it  represents  him  as  radically  saving 
his  obedient  people  from  their  indwelling  sin  in  this  life.  But  are  ye 
not  guilty  of  the  very  error  which  ye  charge  upon  us,  when  ye 
insinuate  that  he  cannot  or  will  not  say  to  our  inbred  sins,  Tnose  mine 
enemies  which  will  not  that  I  should  reign  over  thern^  bring  hither,  and 
slay  them  before  me  ?  If  a  common  judge  has  power  to  pass  sentence 
of  death  upon  all  the  robbers,  and  murderers  who  are  properly 
prosecuted  ;  and  if  they  are  hanged  and  destroyed  in  a  few  «iays, 
weeks,  or  months,  in  consequence  of  his  sentence  ;  how  strangely  do 


ol8  THE  LAST  CHECK 

ye  reflect  upon  Christ,  and  revive  the  Agag  within  us,  Vi^hen  ye  insinu- 
ate,  that  he,  the  Judge  of  all,  who  was  manifested  for  this  very  pur- 
pose, that  he  might  destroy  the  works,.of  the  devil,  so  far  forgets  his 
errand,  that  he  never  destroys  indwelling  sin  in  one  of  his  willing 
people,  so  long  as  they  are  in  this  world;  although  that  sin  is  the 
capital,  and  most  mischievous  work  of  the  devil? 

Your  doctrine  of  tb.e  necessary  continuance  of  indwelling  sin  in  all 
faithful  believers,  traduces  not  only  the  Son  of  man,  but  also  the 
adorable  Trinity.  The  Father  gives  his  only  begotten  Son,  his  Isaac, 
to  be  crucified,  that  the  ram,  sin,  may  be  offered  up  and  slain  :  but 
you  insinuate  that  the  life  of  that  cursed  ram  is  secured  by.  a  decree 
which  allots  it  the  heart  of  all  believers  for  a  safe  retreat,  and  a  warm 
stable,  so  long  as  we  are  in  this  world.  You  represent  the  Son  as  an 
almighty  Saviour,  who  offers  to  make  us  free  from  sin;  and  yet 
appoints,  that  the  galling  yoke  of  indwelling  sin  shall  remain  tied  to, 
and  bound  upon  our  very  hearts  for  life.  Ye  describe  the  Holy  Ghost 
as  a  sanctifier,  who  applies  Christ's  all-cleansing  blood  to  the  belie- 
ver's heart ;  filling  it  with  the  oil  of  holiness  and  gladness  :  and  yet 
ye  suppose  that  our  hearts  must  necessarily  remain  desperately 
wicked,  and  full  of  indwelling  sin!  Is  it  right  to  pour  contempt  upon 
Christianity,  by  charging  such  inconsistencies  upon  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost? 

It  can  hardly  be  expected,  that  those,  who  thus  misrepresent  their 
God,  should  do  their  neighbour  justice.  Hence  the  liberty  which  ye 
take,  to  fix  a  blot  upon  the  most  holy  characters.  What  have  the 
prophets  and  apostles  done  to  you,  that  ye  should  represent  them, 
not  only  as  men  who  had  hearts  partly  evil  to  the  last,  but  also  as  advo- 
cates for  the  necessary  indwelling  of  sin  in  all  believers  till  death? 
And  why  do  ye  so  eagerly  take  your  advantage  of  holy  Paul  in  parti- 
cular, and  catch  at  a  figurative  mode  of  speech,  to  insinuate,  that  he 
was  a  carnal  wretch,  sold  under  sin,  even  when  he  expected  a  crown 
of  righteousness  at  the  hand  of  his  righteous  Judge,  for  hdi\'ijngfimshed 
his  course  with  the  just  men  made  perfect? — Nay,  what  have  we  done 
to  you,  that  ye  should  endeavour  to  take  from  us  the  greatest  com- 
fort we  have  in  fighting  against  the  remains  of  sin  ?  Why  will  ye 
deprive  us  of  the  pleasing  and  purifying  hope  of  taking  the  Jericho 
which  we  encompass,  and  killing  the  Goliath  whom  we  attack  1- — And 
what  has  indwelling  sin  done  for  you,  that  ye  should  still  plead  for  the 
propriety  of  its  continuance  in  our  hearts  ?  Is  it  not  the  root  of  all 
outward  sin,  and  the  spring  of  all  the  streams  of  iniquity,  which  carry 
desolation  through  every  part  of  the  globe  ?  If  ye  hate  the  fruit  vihy 
do  yc  so  eagerly  contend  for  the  necessary  continuance  of  the  root  ? 


TO    ANTINOMIANMSM.  319 

And  if  ye  favour  godliness  [for  many  of  you  undoubtedly  do]  why  do 
you  put  such  a  conclusive  argument  as  this  into  the  mouths  of  the 
wicked  ?  These  good  men  contend  for  the  propriety  of  indweiliiig 
sin,  that  grace  may  abound  :  and  why  should  we  not  plead  for  the 
propriety  of  outm^ard  sin  for  the  same  important  reason  ?  Does  not 
God  approve  of  an  honest  heart,  which  scorns  to  cloak  the  inward 
iniquity  with  outward  demureness. 

Mr.  Hill  has  lately  published  an  ingenious  dialogue,  called,  .^  Lash 
to  Enthusiasm,  in  which,  page  26,  he  uses  an  argument  against  plead- 
ing for  lukewarmness,  which,  with  very  little  variation,  may  be 
retorted  against  his  pleading  for  tjulwelling  sin.  "  Suffer  me,  says  he, 
to  put  the  sentiments  of  such  persons  [as  plead  for  the  middle  way  of 
lukewarmness]  into  the  form  of  a  prayer,  which  we  may  suppose 
would  run  in  some  such  expressions  as  the  following.  O  Lord,  thy 
word  requires  that  I  should  love  thee  with  all  my  heart,  with  all  my 
mind,  with  all  my  soul,  and  with  all  my  strength;  th'at  I  should 
renounce  the  world,"  [and  indxn: tiling  sm]  "  and  should  present  myself 
as  an  holy,  reasonable,  and  lively  sacrifice  unto  thee  :  but  Lord,  these 
jRre  such  over-righteous  extremes,"  [and  such  heights  oj  sinless  per- 
fection'] "  as  I  cannot  away  with  ;  and  therefore  grant  that  thy  love, 
and  a  moderate  share  ©f  the  love  of  the  world"  [or  of  indwelling  sin] 
"  may  both  rei^n"  [or  at  least  co7itinue]  "  in  my  heart  at  once."  I 
ask  it  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  Amen."  Mr.  Hill  jus\\y  adds,  "  Now, 
dear  Madam,  if  you  are  shocked  at  such  a  petition,  consider  that  it  is 
the  exact  language  of  your  own  heart,  whilst  you  can  plead  for  what 
you  call  the  middle  way  of  religion."  And  I  beg  leave  to  take  up  his 
own  argument,  and  to  add  with  equal  propriety,  '*  Now,  dear  Sirs, 
if  you  are  shocked  at  such  a  petition,  consider  that  it  is  the  exact 
language  of  your  own  hearts,  whilst  ye  can  plead  for  what  ye  call 
indwelling  sm,  or  the  remains  of  sin." 

Nor  can  I  see  what  ye  get  by  such  a  conduct.  The  excruciating 
thorn  of  indwelling  sin  sticks  in  your  hearts  ;  we  assert  that  Christ 
can  and  will  extract  it,  if  ye  plead  his  promise  of  sanctifying  you 
wholly  in  soul,  body,  and  spirit.  But  ye  say,  *'  This  cannot  be  :  the 
thorn  must  stay  in,  till  death  extract  it :  and  the  lepro?y  shall  cleave 
to  the  walls  till  the  house  is  demolished."  Just  as  if  Christ,  by  radi- 
cally cleansing  the  lepers  in  the  d.iys  of  his  flesh,  had  not  given 
repeated  proofs  of  the  absurdity  of  your  argument!  Just  as  if  pan 
of  the  Gospel  were  not,  7'Ae  lepers  are  cleansed,  and,  If  iht  Son  makf 
ye  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed ! 

If  ye  get  nothing  in  pleading  for  Christian'imperfection,  permit  mc 
to  tell  you  what  you  lose  by  it»  and  what  ye  might  get  by  sleadih 
going  on  to  perfection. 


32S  THE   LAST    CHECK 

1.  If  ye  earnestly  aimed  at  Christian  perfection,  ye  would  have 
a  bright  testimony  in  your  own  souls,  that  you  are  sincere,  and  that 
ye  walk  agreeably  to  your  baptismal  engagements.  I  have  already 
observed,  that  some  of  the  most  pious  Calvinists  doubt,  if  those  who 
do  not  pursue  Christian  perfection  are  Christians  at  all.  Hence  it 
follows,  that  the  more  earnestly  you  pursue  it,  the  stronger  will  be 
your  confidence,  that  you  are  upright  Christians  :  and  when  ye  shall 
be  perfected  in  love,  ye  shall  have  that  evidence  of  your  sincerity 
which  will  perfectly  cast  out  servile  fear  -which  hath  torment^  and 
nourish  the  filial  fear  which  has  safety  and  delight.  It  is  hard  to  con- 
ceive how  we  can  constantly  enjoy  the  full  assurance  of  faith  out  of 
the  state  of  Christian  perfection.  For  so  long  as  a  Christian  inwardly 
breaks  Christ's  evangelical  law,  he  is  justly  condemned  in  his  own 
conscience.  If  his  heart  do  not  condemn  him  for  it,  it  is  merely 
because  he  is  asleep  in  the  lap  of  Antinomianism.  On  the  other 
hand,  says  St.  John,  If  our  heart  condemn  us,  God  is  greater  than  our 
heart,  and  knoweth  all  things  that  make  for  our  condemnation.  But  if 
we  love  indeed  and  in  truth,  which  none  but  the  perfect  do  at  all  times, 
hereby  we  know  that  we  are  of  the  truths  and  shall  assure  our  hearts 
before  him,  1  John  iii.  19,  20. 

2.  The  perfect  Christian,  who  has  left  all  to  follow  Christ,  is 
peculiarly  near  and  dear  to  God.  He  is,  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 
one  of  God's  favourites  ;  and  his  prayers  are  remarkably  answered. 
This  will  appear  to  you  indubitable,  if  you  can  receive  the  testimony 
of  these  who  are  perfected  in  obedient  love.  Behold,  say  they, 
whatsoever  we  ask,  we  receive  of  him ;  because  we  keep  his  command- 
ments, and  do  those  things  which  are  pleasing  in  his  sight ;  that  is, 
because  we  are  perfected  in  obedient  love,  1  John  iii.  22.  This  pecu- 
liar blessing  ye  lose  by  despising  Christian  perfection.  Nay,  so  great 
is  the  union  which  subsists  between  God  and  the  perfect  members  of 
his  Son,  that  it  is  compared  to  dwelling  in  God,  and  having  God  dwell- 
ing in  us,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Com- 
forter, are  said  to  make  their  abode  with  us.  M  that  day  [when  ye 
shall  be  perfected  in  one]  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  my  Father,  and 
you  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  If  a  man  love  me  he  will  keep  my  words  ;  and 
my  Father  will  love  him ;  and  we  will  come  to  him,  and  make  our  abode 
with  him,  John  xiv.  20,  23. — Again  :  He  that  keepeth  God^s  command- 
ments dwelleth  in  God  and  God  in  him,  1  John  iii.  24. — Ye  are  my 
[dearest]  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  you — [i.  e.  if  ye 
attain  the  perfection  of  your  dispensation]  John  xv.  14. — Once  more  : 
Keep  my  commandments,  and  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give 
you  another  Comforter  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever,  John  xiv. 
15,  16.     From  these  scriptures  it  appears,  that,  under  every  dispen- 


TO    ANTIN0MIANISM*  321 

sation,  the  perfect^  or  they  who  keep  the  commandments,  have 
unspeakable  advantages,  from  which  the  lovers  of  imperfection  debar 
themselves. 

3.  Ye  bring  far  less  glory  to  God  in  the  state  of  indwelling  sin, 
than  ye  would  do  if  ye  were  perfected  in  love  ;  for  perfect  Christians 
[other  thini^s  being  equal]  glorify  God  more  than  those  who  remain 
full  of  inbred  iniquity.  Hence  it  is,  that  in  the  very  chapter  where 
our  Lord  so  strongly  pres^^es  Christian  perfection  upon  his  disciples, 
he  says,  Let  your  Hi^ht  so  shine  bffore  meri,  that  they  may  see  your  good 
works,  and  glorify  yoitr  Father  rs:ho  is  in  heaveUy  Matt.  v.  16. — For^ 
Herein  is  my  Father  glorified,  that  ye  bear  much  fruit,  John  xv.  8.  It 
is  true  that  the  fruit  of  the  pierfect  is  not  always  relished  by  men  who 
judge  only  according  to  appearances  :  but  God,  who  judges  righte- 
ous judgment,  finds  it  rich  and  precious  :  and  therefore  the  two  mites, 
which  the  poor  widow  gave  with  a  cheerful  and  perfect  heart,  were 
more  precious  in  his  account,  and  brought  him  more  glory,  than  all 
the  money  which  the  imperfect  worshippers  cast  into  the  treasury, 
though  some  of  them  cast  in  much.  Hence,  also,  our  Lord  com- 
manded that  the  work  of  perfect  love,  which  Mary  wrought  when  she 
anointed  his  feet  for  his  burial,  shoidd  be  told  for  a  memorial  of  her, 
reherever  this  [the  Christian]  Gospel  should  be  preached  in  the  whole 
world. — Such  is  the  honour  which  the  Lord  puts  upon  the  branches 
io  him  that  bear  fruit  to  perfection  ! 

4.  The  perfect  Christian  [other  things  being  equal]  is  a  more  useful 
member  of  society  than  the  imperfect.  Never  will  ye  he  such  hum- 
ble men,  such  good  parents,  such  dutiful  children,  such  loving  bro- 
thers, such  loyal  subjects,  such  kind  neighbours,  such  indulgent  hus- 
bands, and  such  faithful  friends,  as  when  ye  shall  have  obtained  the 
perfect  sincerity  of  obedience.  Ye  will  then,  in  your  degree,  have 
the  simplicity  of  the  gentle  dove,  the  patience  of  the  laborious  ox,  the 
courage  of  the  magnanimous  lion,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  wary  ser- 
pent, without  any  of  its  poison.  In  your  little  sphere  of  action,  ye 
will  abound  in  the  u-ork  of  faith,  the  patience  of  hope,  and  the  labour 
of  love,  far  more  than  ye  did  before:  for  a  field  properly  weeded, 
and  cleared  from  briars,  is  naturally  more  fruitful  than  one  which  is 
shaded  by  spreading  brambles,  or  filled  with  the  indwelling  roots  of 
noxious  weeds  ;  it  being  a  capital  mistake  of  the  spiritual  husband- 
men who  till  the  Lord's  field  in  mystical  Geneva,  to  suppose  that 
the  plant  of  humility  thrives  best  when  the  roots  of  indwelling  sin  are 
twisted  round  its  root. 

6.  None  but  just  men  made  perfect  are  meet  to  be  made  partakers  of 
the  inheritance  among  the  saints  in  light ;  an  inheritance  this  which  no 
Voj.  IV.  41 


322  THE    LAST    CHECK 

man  is  fit  for  till  he  has  purified  himself  from  the  filthiness  of  the  fiesk 
and  spirit.  If  modern  divines,  therefore,  assure  you,  that  a  believer, 
full  of  indwelling  sin,  has  a  full  title  to  heaven,  believe  them  not ;  for 
the  Holy  Ghost  has  said,  that  the  believer  who  breaks  the  law  of 
liberty  in  one  point,  is  guilty  of  all,  and  that  no  defilement  shall  enter 
into  heaven  :  and  our  Lord  himself  has  assured  us,  that  the  pure  in 
heart  shall  see  God,  and  that  they  who  were  ready  for  that  sight,  zssent 
in  with  the  bridegroom  to  the  marriage  feast  of  the  Lamb.  And  who  is 
ready  ?  Undoubtedly  the  believer  whose  lamp  is  trimmed,  and  burn- 
ing. But  is  a  spiritual  lamp  trimmed  when  its  flame  is  darkened  by 
the  black  fungus  of  indwelling  sin  ?  Agajn  :  who  shall  be  saved  into 
glory,  but  the  man  whose  heart  is  washed  from  iniquity?  But  is  that 
heart  washed  which  continues  full  of  indwelling  corruption  ?  Wo, 
therefore,  be  to  the  Heathens,  Jews,  and  Christians,  who  trifle  away 
the  accepted  time,  and  die  without  being  in  a  state  of  Heathen,  Jewish, 
or  Christian  perfection  !  They  have  no  chance  of  going  to  heaven, 
but  through  the  purgatory  preached  by  the  Heathens,  the  Papists,  and 
the  Calvinists.  And  should  the  notions  of  these  purgatories  be 
groundless,  it  unavoidably  follows,  that  unpurged  or  imperfect  souls 
must,  at  death,  rank  with  the  unready  souls  whom  our  Lord  calls 
foolish  virgins,  and  against  whom  the  door  of  heaven  will  b6  shut.  How 
awful  is  this  consideration,  my  dear  brethren  !  How  should  it  make  us 
stretch  every  nerve  till  we  have  attained  the  perfection  of  our  dis- 
pensation 1  I  would  not  encourage  tormenting  fears  in  an  unscriptural 
manner ;  but  I  should  rejoice  if  all  who  call  Jesiis,  Lord,  would 
mind  his  solemn  declarations — /  say  unto  you,  my  friends,  Be  not  afraid 
of  them  that  kill  the  body,  4'C.  but  I  will  forewarn  you  whom  you  shall 
fear;  fear  him,  who,  after  he  hath  killed,  hath  power  to  cast  into  hell  : 
yea,  I  say  unto  you,  fear  him,  who  will  burn  in  the  fire  of  wrath  those 
who  harbour  the  indwelling  man  of  sin,  lest  he  should  be  utterly  con- 
sumed by  the  fire  of  love. 

Should  ye  cry  out  against  this  doctrine,  and  ask  if  all  imperfect 
Christians  are  in  a  damnable  state  ?  We  reply,  that  so  long  as  a  Chris- 
tian believer  sincerely  presses  after  Christian  perfection  he  is  safe  j 
because  he  is  in  the  way  of  duty,  and  were  he  to  die  at  midnight,, 
betore  midnight  God  would  certainly  bring  him  to  Christian  perfection^ 
or  bring  Christian  perfection  to  him  ;  for  we  are  confident  of  this  very 
thing,  that  he  who  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  them,  will  perform  it  until 
the  day  of  Jesus  Christ,  because  they  work  out  their  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling.  But  if  a  believer  fall,  loiter,  and  rest  upon 
former  experiences  :  depending  upon  a  self-made,  Pharisaical  per- 
fection ;  our  chief  message  to  him  is  that  of  St.  Paul,  Jiwakethou  ihf^,^ 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  3^3 

deepest, — Awake  to  righteousness y  and  sin  not,  for  thou  hast  not  the  heart- 
purifying  knowledge  of  God,  which  is  eternal  life.  Arise  from  the  dead  ; 
call  for  oil,  and  Christ  will  give  thee  light.  Otherwise  thou  shalt  share 
the  dreadful  fate  of  the  lukewarm  Laodiceans,  and  of  the  foolish 
virgins,  whose  lamps  went  out^  instead  of  shining  more  and  more  to  the 
perfect  day. 

6,  This  is  not  all :  as  ye  will  be  fit  for  judgment,  and  a  glorious 
heaven,  when  ye  shall  be  perfected  in  love  ;  so  you  will  actually 
enjoy  a  gracious  heaven  in  your  own  souls.  You  will  possess  within 
you  the  kingdom  (f  God,  which  consists  in  settled  righteousness,  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  so  lonp;  as  ye  neglect  Christian  per- 
fection, and  continue  sold  under  indwelling  sin,  ye  not  only  risk  the 
loss  of  the  heaven  of  heavens,  but  ye  lose  a  little  heaven  upon  earth  : 
for  perfect  Christians  are  so  full  of  peace  and  love,  that  they  triumph 
in  Christ  with  joy  unspeakable,  and  full  of  glory,  and  rejoice  in  tribula- 
tion with  a  patience  which  has  its  perfect  work.  Yea,  they  count  it  all 
joy  when  they  fall  into  divers  trials;  and  such  is  their  deadness  to  the 
world,  that  they  are  exceeding  glad  when  men  say  all  manner  of  evil 
of  them  falsely  for  Christ's  sake.  How  desirable  is  such  a  state  ! — And 
who,  but  the  blessed  above,  can  enjoy  a  happiness  superior  to  him 
who  can  say,  /  am  ready  to  be  q^ered  up.  The  sting  of  death  is  sin,  and 
the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law;  but,  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  Not  in 
my  heart,  since  the  righteousness  of  the  law  is  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk 
not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit: — Not  in  my  mind, /or  fo  be 
spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace.  Now  this  peculiar  happiness  ye 
lose,  so  long  as  ye  continue  imperfect  Christians. 

7.  But  supposing  a  Christian,  who  dies  in  a  state  of  Christian  imper- 
fection, can  escape  damnation,  and  make  shift  to  get  to  heaven  ;  it  is 
certain  that  he  cannot  go  into  the  glorious  mansion  of  perfect  Chris- 
tians, nor  shine  among  the  stars  of  the  first  magnitude.  The  wish  of 
my  soul  is,  that  if  God's  wisdom  has  so  ordered  it,  imperfect  Chris- 
tians may  one  day  rank  among  perfect  Jews,  or  perfect  Heathens.  But 
upon  even  this  supposition,  what  will  they  do  with  their  indwelling  sin  ? 
For  a  perfect  Gentile,  and  a  perfect  Jew,  are  without  guile,  according 
to  their  light,  as  well  as  a  perfect  Christian.  Lean  not  then  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  continuance  of  indwelling  sin  till  death  ; — a  doctrine 
this  on  which  a  Socrates,  or  a  Melchisedec,  would  be  afraid  to  venture 
his  Heathen  perfection,  and  eternal  salvation.  On  the  contrary,  by 
Christian  perfection,  ye  may  rise  to  the  brightest  crowns  of  righteous- 
ness, and  shine  like  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  your  Father.  O  for  a 
noble  ambition  to  obtain  one  of  the  fr'*  seats  in  glory !   O  tor  n  rnn- 


324  tUE   LAST   CHECK 

slant,  evangelical  striving  to  have  the  most  abundant  entrance  rainu' 
tered  unio  you  irdo  the  kingdom  of  God !  O  tor  a  throne  among  these 
peculiarly'  redeemed  saints,  who  sing  the  new  song,  which  none  can 
learn  but  themselves.  It  is  not  Christ's  to  give  those  exalted  thrones 
out  of  mere  distinguishing  grace  :  no  ;  they  may  be  forfeited  ;  for 
they  shall  be  given  to  those  for  whom  they  are  prepared  ;  and  they 
are  prepared  for  them,  who,  evangelically  speaking,  are  zvorthy. 
They  shall  walk  with  me  in  white,  for  they  are  worthy,  says  Christ :  and 
they  shall  sit  at  my  right  hand,  and  at  my  left  in  my  kingdom,  who  shall 
We  worthy  of  that  honour  :  for  them  that  honour  me,  says  the  Lord,  / 
will  honour. — Behold  I  come  quickly  ;  my  reward  is  with  me,  and  I  will 
render  to  every  man  according  to  his  works.  And  what  reward,  think 
ye,  will  Christ  give  you,  O  my  dear  mistaken  brethren,  if  he  find  jou 
still  pissing  jests  upon  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  which  he 
so  strongly  recommends  ? — Still  pleading  for  the  continuance  of 
indwelling  sin,  which  he  so  greatly  abhors  ? 

8.  Your  whole  system  of  indwelling  sin  and  imputed  perfection, 
stands  upon  two  of  the  most  dangerous  and  false  maxims  which  were 
ever  advanced.  The  first,  which  begets  Antinomian  presumption, 
runs  thus,  '*  Sin  cannot  destroy  us  cither  in  this  world  or  in  the  world 
to  come  :"  and  the  second,  which  is  productive  of  Antinomian  despair, 
is,  *'Sin  cannot  be  destroyed  in  this  world."  O  how  hard  is  it  for 
those  who  worship  where  these  Siren-songs  pass  for  sweet  songs  of 
Zion,  not  to  be  drawn  into  one  of  these  fatal  conclusions!  "  What 
need  is  there  of  attacking  sin  with  so  much  eagerness,  since,  even  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  I  cannot  destroy  it?  And  why  should  I  resist  it 
with  so  much  watchfulness,  since  my  eternal  life  and  salvation  are 
absolutely  secured,  and  the  most  poisonous  cup  of  iniquity  cannot 
destroy  me,  though  1  should  drink  of  it  every  day  for  months  or 
years  ?" — If  ye  fondly  think  that  ye  can  neither  go  backward  into  a 
sinful,  cursed  Egypt,  nor  yet  go  forward  into  a  sinless,  holy  Caanan, 
how  natural  will  it  be  for  you  to  say.  Soul,  take  thy  ease,  and  rest 
awhile  in  this  wilderness  on  the  pillow  of  self-imputed  p«;rfection  ? 
Oh  !  how  many  are  surprised  by  the  midnight  cry  in  this  Laodicean 
rest!  What  numbers  meet  death  with  a  Solitidian  Lord!  Lord!  in 
their  mouths,  and  with  indwelling  sin  in  their  hearts !  And  how  inex- 
pressible will  be  our  horror,  if  we  perceive  our  want  of  holiness  and 
Christian  perfection  only  when  it  will  be  too  late  to  attain  them  !  To 
conclude  : 

9.  Indwelling  sin  is  not  only  the  stitig  of  death,  but  the  very  hell  of 
helh.  if  I  may  use  the  expression  :    for  a  sinless  saint  in  a  local  hell, 


fcV" 


XO   ANTINOMIANISM.  32a 

would  dwell  in  a  holy,  loving  God  ;  and,  of  consequence,  in  a 
spiritual  heaven  ;  like  Shadrach  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  tiery  furnace, 
he  might  have  devouring  flames  curUng  about  him  ;  but,  within  him, 
he  would  still  ha've  the  flame  of  divine  love,  and  the  joy  of  a  good 
conscience.  But  20  much  of  indwelling  si7i  as  we  carry  about  us, 
so  much  of  indwelling  hell ; — so  much  of  the  sting  which  pierces 
the  damned  :  so  'much  of  the  spiritual  tire,  which  will  burn  up  the 
wicked  ; — so  much  of  the  never  dying  worm,  which  will  prey  upon 
them  : — so  much  of  the  dreadful  instrument  which  will  rack  them  ; — 
so  much  of  Satan's  image,  which  will  frighten  them; — so  much  of  the 
characteristic  by  which  the  devil's  children  shall  be  distinguished 
from  the  children  of  God  ; — so  much  of  the  black  mark  whereby  the 
goats  shall  be  separated  from  the  sheep.  To  plead  therefore  for  the 
continuance  of  indwelling  sin,  is  no  better  than  to  plead  for  keeping 
in  your  hearts  one  of  the  sharpest  stings  of  death,  and  one  of  the 
hottest  coals  in  hell-tire.  On  the  other  hand,  to  attain  Christian  per- 
fection is  to  have  the  last  feature  of  Belial's  image  erased  from  your 
loving  souls,  the  last  bit  of  the  sting  of  death  extracted  from  your 
composed  breasts,  and  the  last  spark  of  hell  fire  extinguished  in  your 
peacaful  bosoms.  It  is  to  enter  into  the  spiritual  rest  which  remains 
on  earth  for  the  people  of  God  ;  a  delightful  rest  this,  where  your 
soul  will  enjoy  a  calm  in  the  midst  of  outward  storms  ;  and  where 
your  spirit  will  no  longer  be  tossed  by  the  billows  of  swelling  pride, 
dissatisfied  avarice,  pining  envy,  disappointed  hopes,  fruitless  cares, 
dubious  'anxiety,  turbulent  anger,  fretting  impatience,  and  racking 
unbelief.  It  is  to  enjoy  that  even  state  of  mind,  in  which  all  things 
will  work  together  for  your  good.  There  your  love  will  bear  its 
excellent  fruits  during  the  sharpest  winter  of  affliction,  as  well  as  in 
the  finest  summer  of  prosperity.  There  you  will  be  more  and  more 
settled  in  peaceful  humility.  There  you  will  continually  grow  in  a 
holy  familiarity  ivith  the  Friend  of  penitent  sinners  ;  and  your  pros- 
pect of  eternal  felicity  will  brighten  every  day.* 

Innumerable  are  the  advantages  which  established,  perfect  Chris- 
tians, have  over  carnal,  unsettled  believers,  who  continue  sold  under 
indwelling  sin.     And  will  ye  despise  those  blessings  to  your  dying 

*  If  the  arguments  and  expostulations  contained  in  these  sheets  be  rational  and  scrip- 
tural ;  is  not  Mr.  Wesley  in  the  right,  when  he  says,  that  "  All  pieathers  should  make  a 
pointof  preaching  perfection  to  believers,  constantly, strongly,  and  explicitly  :  "and  that 
"  All  believers  should  mind  this  one  thing,  and  continually  agonize  for  it  ?"  And  do  not  all 
the  ministers,  who  preach  against  Cliribtian  perfection,  preach  against  'the  perfection  of 
Christianity,  oppose  hohness,  resist  the  sanctifying  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  recommend  an 
unscriptural  purgatory,  plead  for  sin,  instead  of  striving  against  it,  and  delude  imperfect 
Christians  into  Laodicean  ease  ' 


326  THE    LAST    CHECK 

tiay,  O  ye  prejudiced  imperfectionists  ?  Will  ye  secure  to  yourselves 
the  contrary  curses  ?  Nay,  will  ye  entail  them  upon  the  generations 
which  are  yet  unborn,  by  continuing  to  print,  preach,  or  argue  for  the 
continuance  of  indwelling  sin,  the  capital  wo  belonging  to  the  devil 
and  his  angels  ?  God  forbid  !  We  hope  better  things  from  you  ;  not 
doubting  but  the  error  of  several  of  you  lies  chiefly  in  your  judg- 
ment, and  springs  from  a  misunderstanding  of  the  question,  rather 
than  from  a  malicious  opposition  to  that  holiness,  zvithout  which  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord.  With  pleasure  we  remember,  and  follow  St. 
Jude's  loving  direction  :  of  some  [the  simple-hearted,  who  are  seduced 
into  Antinomianism,]  have  compassion,  making  a  difference ;  and  others 
[the  bigots  and  obstinate  seducers,  who  wilfully  shut  their  eyes  against 
the  truth]  save  with  fear :  hating  even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh: 
although  they  will  not  be  ashamed  to  plead  for  the  continuance  of  a 
defiling  fountain  of  carnality  in  the  very  hearts  of  all  God's  people. 
We  are  fully  persuaded,  my  dear  brethren,  that  we  should  wrong  you, 
if  we  did  not  acknowledge  that  many  of  you  have  a  smcere  desire  to 
be  saved  by  Christ  into  all  purity  of  heart  and  life  ;  and  with  regard 
to  such  imperfectionists,  our  chief  complaint  irs,  that  their  desire  is 
not  according  to  knowledge. 

If  others  of  you,  of  a  different  stamp,  should  laugh  at  these  pages  ; 
and  [still  producing  banter  instead  of  argument]  should  continue  to 
say,  "  Where  are  your  perfect  Christians  ?  Show  us  but  one,  and  we 
will  believe  your  doctrine  of  perfection  :"  I  shall  just  put  them  in 
mind  of  St.  Peter's  awful  prophecy  :  Know  this  first,  that  there  shall 
come  in  the  last  days  scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  [indwelling]  lusts, 
and  saying,  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  spiritual  coming  [to  make  an 
end  of  sin,  thoroughly  to  purge  his  floor,  and  to  burn  the  chaff  with 
unquenchable  fire  ?]  For  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue 
as  they  were  from  the  beginning :  all  believers  are  still  carnal  and  sold 

under  sin,  as  well  as  father  Paul. And  if  such  mockers  continue  to 

display  their  prejudice  by  such  taunts,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  show 
them  their  own  picture,  by  pointing  at  those  prejudiced  professors  of 
old,  who  said,  concerning  the  most  perfect  of  all  the  perfect,  "  What 
sign  showest  thou,  that  we  may  receive  thy  doctrine?  Come  down 
from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe."  O  the  folly  and  danger  of  such 
scoffs  !  "  Blessed  is  he  that  sitteth  not  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful,  and 
maketh  much  of  thetia  that  /ear  the  Lord."  Yea,  he  is  blessed  next 
to  them  "  that  are  undefiled  in  the  way,  who  walk  in  the  law  of  the 
Lord,  keep  his  testimonies,  and  seek  him  with  their  whole  heart,'- 
Psal.  cxix.  1,2. 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  357 

Should  ye  ask  :  "  To  what  purpose  do  you  make  all  tliis  ado  about 
Christi.m  perfection  ?  Do  those  who  maintain  this  doctrine  live  more 
holy  and  useful  Hves  than  other  believers  ?"  I  answer  : 

1.  Every  thing  being  equal,  they  undoubtedly  do,  if  they  hold  not 
the  truth  in  unrighteousness;  for  the  best  pnnciples,  when  they  are 

cordially  embraced,  will  always  produce  the  best  practices. But 

alas  !  too  many  merely  contend  for  Christian  perfection  in  a  specula- 
tive, systematical  manner.  I'hey  recommend  it  to  others  with  their 
lips,  as  a  point  of  doctrine  which  makes  a  part  of  their  religious  system, 
instead  of  following  after  it  with  their  hearts,  as  a  blessing  which  they 
must  attain,  if  they  will  not  be  found  as  unprepared  for  judgment  as 
the  foolish  virgins.  These  perfectionists  are,  so  far,  hypocrites ; 
nor  should  their  fatal  inconsistency  make  us  despise  the  truth  which 
they  contend  for,  any  more  than  the  conduct  of  thousands,  who  con- 
tend for  the  truth  of  thp  Scriptures,  while  they  live  in  full  opposition  ' 
to  the  Scriptures,  ought  to  make  us  despise  the  Bible. 

2.  On  the  other  hand,  some  gracious  persons  [like  the  pious  and 
inconsistent  Antinomians  whom  I  have  described  in  the  preceding 
Checks]  speak  against  Christian  perfection  with  their  lips,  but  cannot 
help  following  hard  after  it  with  their  hearts  ;  and  while  they  do  so, 
they  sometimes  attain  the  thing,  although  they  continue  to  quarrel 
with  the  name.  These  perfect  iraperfectionists  undoubtedly  adorn 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  far  more  than  the  imperfect,  hypocritical  per- 
fectionists, whom  I  have  just  described!  and  God,  who  looks  at  the 
simplicity  of  the  heart  more  than  at  the  consistency  of  the  judgment, 
pities  their  mistakes,  and  accepts  their  works. 

But  3.  Some  there  are,  who  both  maintain,  doctrinally  and  practi- 
cally, the  necessity  of  a  perfect  devotedness  of  ourselves  to  God. 
They  hold  the  truth,  and  they  hold  it  in  wisdom  and  righteousness  ; 
their  tempers  and  conduct  enforce  it,  as  ivell  as  their  words  and  pro- 
fession. And,  on  this  account,  they  have  a  great  advantage  over  the 
two  preceding  classes  of  professors.  Reason  and  Revelation  jointly 
crown  the  orthodoxy  and  faithfulness  of  these  perfect  perfectionists, 
who  neither  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  wicked,  nor  excite  the  won- 
der of  the  judicious,  by  absurdly  pleading  for  indwelling  sin  with  their 
lips,  while  they  strive  to  work  righteousness  with  their  hands  and 
hearts.  If  ye  candidly  weigh  this  three-fold  distinction,  1  doubt  not 
but  ye  will  blame  the  irrational  inconsistency  of  holy  imperfectionisti, 
condemning  the  immoral  inconsistency  of  unholy  perfectionists,  and 
agree  with  me,  that  the'  most  excellent  Christian  is  a  consistent y  holy 
perfectionist. 


328  THE  LAST  CHECK 

And  now,  my  dear,  mistaken  brethren,  take  in  good  part  these  plaio 
solutions,  expostulations,  and  reproofs  :  and  give  glory  to  God  by 
believing  that  he  can  and  will  yet  save  you  to  the  uttermost  from  your 
evil  tempers,  if  ye  humbly  come  to  him  by  Christ.  Day  and  night 
ask  of  him  the  new  heart,  which  keeps  the  commandments ;  and  when 
ye  shall  have  received  it,  if  you  keep  it  with  all  diligence,  sin  'shall 
no  more  pollute  it  than  it  polluted  our  Lord's  soul,  when  he  said.  If 
ye  keep  my  commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  my  love  ;  even  as  I  have 
kept  my  Father's  commandments,  and  abide  in  his  love.  Burn,  in  the 
mean  time,  the  unhallowed  pens,  and  bridle  the  rash  tongues  with 
which  ye  have  pleaded  for  the  continuance  of  sin  till  death.  Honour 
us  with  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  :  and  like  reconciled  brethren, 
let  us  at  every  opportunity  lovingly  fall  upon  our  knees  together,  to 
implore  the  help  of  Him,  who  can  do  far  exceeding  abundantly  above 
all  that  we  ask  or  think.  Nor  let  us  give  him  any  rest,  till  he  has 
perfected  all  our  souls  in  the  charity  which  rejoiceth  in  the  truth  with- 
out  prejudice,  in  the  obedience  which  keeps  the  commandments  with- 
out reserve,  and  in  the  perseverance  which  finds  that  in  keeping  of 
them  there  is  great  reward. 

Nothing  but  such  a  conduct  as  this  can  remove  the  stumbling- 
blocks  which  the  contentions  ye  breed  have  laid  in  the  way  of  a  de> 
istical  world.  When  the  men,  whom  your  mistakes  have  hardened, 
shall  see  that  you  listen  to  Scripture  and  reason,  who  knows  but  their 
prejudi  es  may  subside,  and  some  of  them  nrtay  yet  say,  *'  See  the  good 
which  arises  from  friendly  controversy  !  See  how  these  Christians 
desire  to  be  perfected  in  one  ?  They  now  understand  one  another. 
Babylonish  confusion  is  at  an  end  ;  evangelical  truth  prevails  ;  and 
love,  the  most  delicious  fruit  of  truth,  visibly  grows  to  Christian 
perfection."— God  grant  that,  through  the  concurrence  of  your 
candour,  this  may  soon  be  the  language  of  all  those  whom  the  bigotry 
of  professors  has  confirmed  in  their  prejudices  against  Christianity. 

Should  this  plain  address  so  far  influence  you,  my  dear  brethren,  as 
to  abate  the  force  of  your  aversion  to  the  doctrine  of  pntre  love,  or  to 
stagger  your  unaccountable  faith  in  a  death  purgatory ;  and  should 
you  seriously  ask  which  is  the  way  to  Christian  perfection,  I  entreat 
you  to  pass  on  to  the  next  section,  where  I  hope  you  will  find  a  scrip- 
tural answer  to  some  important  questions,  which,  I  trust,  a  few  of  you 
dre  by  this  time  ready  to  propose. 


TO    AXTINOMIANISK.  329 


SECTION  XIX. 


An  Address  to  Imperfect  Believers,  who  cordially  embrace  the  doctrine  of 
Christian  Perfection. 


Your  regard  for  Scripture  and  Reason,  and  your  desire  to  answer 
the  ends  of  God's  predestination,  hy  being  conformed  to  the  image  of 
his  Son,  have  happily  kept  or  reclaimed  you  from  the  Antinomianism 
exposed  in  these  sheets. 

Ye  see  the  absolute  necessity  of  personally  fulfilling  the  law  of 
Christ ;  your  bosom  glows  with  desire  to  perfect  holiness  in  the  fear  of 
God;  and  far  from  blushing  to  be  called  Perfectionists,  ye  openly 
assert  that  a  perfect  faith,  productive  of  perfect  love  to  God  and  man, 
is  the  pearl  of  great  price  for  which  you  are  determined  to  sell  all, 
and  which  (next  to  Christ)  you  will  seek  early  and  late,  as  the  one 
thing  needful  for  your  spiritual  and  eternal  welfare.  Some  directions, 
therefore,  about  the  manner  of  seeking  this  pearl,  cannot  but  be  ac- 
ceptable to  you,  if  they  are  scriptural  and  rational ;  and  such,  I  hum- 
bly trust,  are  those  which  follow. 

I.  First,  if  ye  would  attain  an  evangelically  sinless  perfection,  let 
your  full  assent  to  the  truth  of  that  deep  doctrine  firmly  stand  upon 
the  evangelical  foundation  of  a  precept  and  a  promise.  A  precept 
without  a  promise  would  not  sufficiently  animate  you  :  nor  would  a 
promise  without  a  precept  properly  bind  you;  but  a  divine  precept 
and  Si  divine  promise  {orm  an  unshaken  foundation.  Let  then  your 
faith  deliberately  rest  her  right  foot  upon  these  precepts. 

Hear,  0  Israel — thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might,  Deut.  vi.  6. — Thou  shalt 
not  hate  thy  neighbour  m  thy  heart :  thou  shalt  in  any  wise  rebuke  thy 
neighbour,  and  not  suffer  sin  upon  him.  Thou  shalt  not  avenge,  nor  bear 
any  grudge  against  the  children  of  thy  people  :  but  thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself:  I  am  the  Lord;  ye  shall  keep  my  statutes.  Lev. 
xix.  17,  18.  And  now,  Israel,  what  does  the  Lord  thy  God  require  of 
thee,  but  to  fear  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  his  ways,  and  to  love  him, 
and  to  serve  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
to  keep  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  God,  and  his  statutes,  which  I 
command  thee  this  day  for  thy  good,  k.c.  ?  Circumcise  therefore,  the  fore- 
skin of  your  heart,  and  be  no  more  stiff-necked,    Deut.  10,    1?.  &c.- 

VoL.  IV.  42      ' 


330  THE  LAST  CHECK 

Serve  God  with  a  perfect  heart,  and  a  willing  mind :  for  the  Lord  search-- 
eth  all  hearts,  and  understandeth  the  imaginations  of  the  thonghtSo 
1  Chron.  xxviii.  9. 

Should  unbelief  suggest  that  these  are  only  Old  Testament  injunc- 
tions, trample  upon  the  false  suggestion,  and   rest  the   same  foot  of 
your  faith  upon  the   following  New  Testament   precepts,  Think  not 
that  1  am  come  to   destroy  the  lazv,   or  ihe  prophets. — /  say  unto  you. 
Love  your  eiiemies  :  bless  them  that  curse  you  :  do  good  to  them  that  hate 
you,  &c.  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father  who   is  in  heaven, 
&c.  For  if  ye  love  them  which  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ?  Do  not 
even  the  publicans  the  same  ?  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect.     Malt.  v.  17,  44,  &c. — If  thou  wilt  enter 
into  life,  keep  the  commandments.  Matt.  "xix.  17. — Bear  ye  one  another^ s 
burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ.  Gal.  vi.  2. — This  is  my  com- 
mandment, that  ye  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you,  John  xv.  12 — • 
He  that  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the   law  :  for  this,  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery,   &lc.     Thov  shalt  not  covet,  and  if  there   be  any  other 
commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying.  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbour  as  thyself.     Love  worketh  no  ill,  &c.  therefore,  love  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law.  Rom.  xiii.  8,  10.   This  commandment  we  have  from 
him,  that  he  who  loves  God  love  his  brother  also.   I  John  iv.  21.  If  ye 
fulfil  the  royal  law,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself  ye  do  well. 
But  if  ye  have  respect  to  persons,  ye  commit  sin,  and  are  convinced  of  the 
law  as  transgressors.  Jarxi.  ii.  8,  9. — Circumcision  is  nothing,  uncircum- 
cision  is  nothing  [comparatively  speaking]  but  [under  Christ]  the  keep- 
ing of  the  commandments  of  God  [is  the  one  thing  needful.]   1  Cor.  vii. 
19.  For,  The  end  of  the  commandment  is  charity  out  of  a  pure  heart, 
and  of  a  good  conscience,  and  of  faith  unfeigned.   1  Tim.  i.  5.   Though 
1  have  all  faith,  &c.  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing.   1  Cor.  xiii.  2. 
Whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law  [of  liberty]  and  yet  offend  in  one 
point,  [in  uncharitable  respect  of  persons,]    he  is  guilty  of  all,  &c. 
So  speak  ye,  and  so  do,  as  they  that  shall  be  judged  by  the  law  of  liberty, 
[which  requires  perfect  love,  and  therefore  makes  no  allowance  fov 
the  least  degree  of  uncharitableness.]  James  ii.  10,  12, 

When  the  right  foot  of  your  faith  stands  on  these  evangelical  pre- 
cepts and  proclamations,  lest  she  should  stagger  for  want  of  a  promise 
every  way  adequate  to  such  weighty  commandments,  let  her  place 
her  left  foot  upon  the  following  promises,  which  are  extracted  from 
the  Old  Testament.  The  Lord  thy  God  will  circumcise  thine  heart,  and 
ihe  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart. 
Deut.  XXX.  6.  /  will  give  them  a  heart  to  know  me,  that  I  am  the 
Lord,  and  they  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  their  God  [in  a  new 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  331 

■stnd  peculiar  manner]  for  they  shall  return  unto  me  "with  their  whole 
heart.  —  This  shall  be  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of 
Israel.  After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward 
parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts,  and  will  be  their  God.  and  they  shall 
be  my  people.  Jer.  xxiv.  7. — xxxi.  33.  Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water 
upon  youy  and  ye  shall  be  clean,  from  all  your  flthiness,  and  from  all 
your  idols  will  1  cleanse  you  ;  a  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and  a 
new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you  :  and  I  will  take  away  the  heart  of  stone 
out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  a  heart  of  flesh.  And  I  will  put 
my  Spirit  within  you,  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes.^  and  ye  shall 
keep  my  judgments  and  do  them.     Ezek.  xxv.  27. 

And  let  nobody  suppose  that  the  promises  of  the  circumcision  of  the 
heart,  the  cleansing,  the  clean  water,  and  the  Spirit,  which  are  men- 
tioned in  these  scriptures,  and  by  which  the  hearts  of  belivers  are  to 
be  made  new,  and  God's  law  is  to  be  so  written  therein,  that  they 
shall  keep  his  judgments  and  do  them  : — Let  none,  I  say,  suppose  that 
these  glorious  promises  belong  only  to  the  Jews  ;  for  their  full  accom- 
plishment peculiarly  refers  to  the  Christian  dispensation.  Besides,  if 
sprinklings  of  the  Spirit  were  sufficient,  under  the  Jewish  dispensation, 
to  raise  the  plant  o(  Jewish  perfection  in  Jewish  believers  ;  how  much 
more  will  the  revelation  of  the  horn  of  our  salvation,  and  the  out- 
pourings of  the  Spirit,  raise  the  plant  of  Christian  perfection  in  faith- 
ful. Christian  believers  !  And,  that  this  revelation  of  Christ,  in  the 
Spirit,  as  well  as  in  the  flesh,  these  effusions  of  the  water  of  life, 
these  baptisms  of  fire  which  burn  up  the  chaff  of  sin,  thoroughly 
purge  God's  spiritual  floor,  save  us  from  all  our  uncleannesses,  and 
deliver  us  from  all  our  enemies  ; — that  these  blessings,  I  say,  are 
peculiarly  promised  to  Christians,  is  demonstrable  by  the  following 
cloud  of  New  Testament  declaratiohs  and  promises. 

Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  for  he  hath — raised  up  an  horn  of 
salvation  for  us, — as  he  spake  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets, — that 
we,  being  delivered  out  of  the  hands  of  our  enemies,  might  serve  him 
without  [unbelieving] /ear,  [that  is,  with  perfect  love,]  in  holiness  and 
righteousness  before  him,  all  the  days  of  our  life,  Luke  i.  68,  75. — 
Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  who  thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they 
shall  be  filled.  Matt.  v.  3,  6. — If  thou  knewest  the  gij't  of  God,  4'C.  thou 
zvouldest  have  asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have  given  thee  living  water : 
— Aiid  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him,  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  to  everlasting  life,  John  iv.  10,  14.  Jesus  stood  and  cried, 
saying,  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  to  me  and  drink.  He  that 
believeth  on  me,  [when  1  shall  have  ascended  up  on  high  to  receive 
gifts  for  men]  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water  [to  cleanfie 


332  THE  LAST  CHECK 

his  soul,  and  to  keep  it  clean.]  But  this  he  spake  of  the  Spirit^  xxhich 
they  that  believe  on  him  should  receive ;  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet 
given  [in  such  a  manner  as  to  raise  the  plant  of  Christian  perfection] 
because  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified,  and  his  spiritual  dispensation  was 
not  yet  fully  opened.  John  vii.  37,  &c."  Mr.  Wesley,  in  his  Plain 
Account  of  Christian  Perfection^  has  published  some  excellent  queries, 
and  proposed  them  to  those  who  deny  perfection  to  be  attainable  in 
this  life.  They  are  close  to  the  point,  and  therefore  the  two  first 
attack  the  Imperfectionists  from  the  very  ground  on  which  I  want 
you  to  stand.  They  run  thus:  "1.  Has  there  not  been  a  larger 
measure  of  the  Holy  Spirit  given  under  the  Gospel,  than  under  the 
Jewish  dispensation  ?  If  not,  in  what  sense  was  the  Spirit  not  given 
before  Christ  was  glorified?  John  vii.  39. — 2.  Was  that  glory  which 
followed  the  sufferings  of  Christy  1  Pet.  i.  11.  an  external  glory,  or  an 
internal,  viz.  the  glory  of  holiness  ?"  Always  rest  the  doctrine  of 
Christian  perfection  on  this  scriptural  foundation,  and  it  will  stand  as 
firm  as  revelation  itself. 

It  is  allowed  on  all  sides,  that  the  dispensation  of  John  the  Baptist 
exceeded  that  of  the  other  prophets,  because  it  immediately  introduced 
the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  because  John  was  not  only  appointed  to 
preach  the  baptism  of  repentance,  but  also  clearly  to  point  out  the  very 
person  of  Christ,  and  to  give  knowledge  of  salvation  to  God'' s  people  by 
the  remission  of  sins,  Luke  i.  77.  and  nevertheless,  John  only  pro- 
mised the  blessing  of  the  Spirit,  which  Christ  bestowed  when  he  had 
received  gifts  for  men.  /  indeed,  said  John,  baptize  you  with  water 
unto  repentance ;  but  he  that  cometh  after  me  is  mightier  than  I, — He 
shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,  Matt.  iii.  11.  Such 
is  the  importance  of  this  promise,  that  it  is  particularly  recorded  not 
only  by  the  three  other  evangelists  [see  Mark  i.  8.  Luke  iii.  16.  and 
John  i.  26.]  but  also  by  our  Lord  himself,  who  said  just  before  his 
ascension,  John  truly  baptized  with  water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with 
ike  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence.    Acts  i.  5. 

So  capital  is  this  promise  of  the  Spirit's  stronger  influences  to  raise 
the  rare  plant  of  Christian  perfection,  that  when  our  Lord  speaks  of 
this  promise,  he  emphatically  calls  it  The  promise  of  the  Father; 
because  it  shines  among  the  other  promises  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ, 
as  the  moon  does  among  the  stars.  Thus,  Acts  i.  4.  Wait,  says  he, 
for  tue  promise  of  the  Father,  which  ye  have  heard  of  me.  And  again, 
Luke  xxiv.  49.  Behold,  I  send  the  promise  of  my  Father  upon  you. 
Agreeably  to  this,  St.  Peter  says,  Jesus  being  by  the  right  hand  of  God 
exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
he  hath  shed  forth  this : — He  has  begun  abundantly  to  fulfil  that  which 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  333 

was  spoken  by  the  prophet  Joel,  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days, 
saith  God,  that  I  will  pour  out  [bestow  a  more  abundant  measure]  of 
my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh. — Therefore  repent  and  he  baptized  [i.  e.  make 
an  open  profession  of  your  faith]  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  for  the 
remission  of  sins :  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  for 
the  promise  is  unto  you,  and  to  your  children,  and  to  as  many  as  the 
Lord  our  God  shall  call  [to  enjoy  the  full  blessings  of  the  Christian 
dispensation,]  Acts  ii.  17,  33,  38.  This  promise,  when  it  is  received 
in  its  fulness,  is  undoubtedly  the  greatest  of  all  the  exceeding  great 
and  precious  promises,  which  are  given  to  m5,  that  by  them  you  might  be 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature  [that  is,  of  pure  love  and  unmixed  holi- 
ness] 2  Pet.  i.  4.  Have  therefore  a  peculiar  eye  to  it,  and  to  these 
deep  words  of  our  Lord,  lunll  ask  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you 
another  Comforter,  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever,  even  the  Spirit  of 
truth  [and  power]  zvhom  the  world  knows  not,  4*c.  but  ye  know  him,  for 
he  remaineth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you. — At  thai  day  ye  shall  know, 
that  I  am  in  my  Father,  and  you  in  me,  and  I  in  you : — For,  *'  If  any 
77ian,  i.  e.  any  believer,  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words,  and  my  Father 
will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  to  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him, 
John  xiv.  15,  23:  "Which,"  says  Mr.  Wesley,  in  his  note  on  the 
place,  "  implies  such  a  large  manitestation  of  the  divine  presence  and 
love,  that  the  former,  in  justitication,  is  as  nothing  in  comparison  of  it." 
Agreeable  to  this,  the  same  judicious  divine  expresses  himself  thus  in 
another  of  his  publications :  "  These  virtues  [meekness,  humility, 
and  true  resignation  to  God]  are  the  only  wedding  garment;  they  are 
the  lamps  and  vessels  well  furnished  with  oil.  There  is  nothing  that 
will  do  instead  of  them  ;  they  must  have  their  full  and  perfect  work 
in  you,  or  the  soul  can  never  be  delivered  from  its  fallen,  wrathful 
state.  There  is  no  possibility  of  salvation  but  in  this.  And  when 
the  Lamb  of  God  has  brought  forth  his  own  meekness,  kc.  in  our 
souls,  then  are  our  lamps  trimmed,  and  our  virgin  hearts  made  read\- 
for  the  marriage  feast.  This  marriage  feast  signifies  the  entrance 
into  the  highest  state  of  union  that  can  be  between  God  and  the  soul 
ia  this  life.  This  birthday  of  the  spirit  of  love  in  our  souls,  when- 
ever we  attain  it,  will  feast  our  souls  with  such  peace  and  joy  in  God, 
as  will  blot  out  the  remembrance  of  every  thing  that  we  called  peace 
or  joy  before." 

To  make  you  believe  this  important  promise  with  more  ardour, 
consider  that  our  Lord  spent  some  of  his  last  moments  in  sealing  it 
with  his  powerful  intercession.  After  having  prayed  the  Father  to 
sanctify  his  discijjles  through  the  truth,  firmly  embraced  by  their 
faith,  and  powerfully  applied  by  his  Spirit,  he  adds,  Neither  pray  I  for 


334  THE    LAST    CHECK 

these  alone^  but  for  them  who  will  believe  on  me  through  their  word. 
And  what  is  it  that  our  Lord  asks  for  these  believers?  Truly,  what 
St.  Paul  asked  for  the  imperfect  believers  at  Corinth,  even  their  per- 
fecUon,  2  Cor.  xiii.  9.  A  state  of  soul  this,  which  Christ  describes 
thus  :  That  they  all  may  be  one^  as  thou.  Father ,  art  in  me,  and  lin  thee, 
that  they  may  be  made  one  in  us,  &c.  that  they  may  be  one,  as  we  are 
one:  I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  perfected  in  one,  and 
that  the  world  may  know  that  thou  hast  loved  them  as  thou  hast  loved  me, 
John  xvii.  17,  23.  Our  Lord  could  not  pray  in  vain  :  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  the  Scriptures  are  silent  with  respect  to  the  effect  of 
this  solemn  prayer,  an  answer  to  which  was  to  give  the  world  an  idea 
of  the  new  Jerusalem  coming  down  from  heaven — a  specimen  of  the 
power  which  introduces  believers  into  the  state  of  Christian  perfec- 
tion ;  and  therefore  we  read,  that  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  the  king- 
dom of  Satan  was  powerfully  shaken,  and  the  kingdom  of  God,  right- 
eousness, peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  began  to  come  with  a  new 
power :  then  were  thousands  wonderfully  converted,  and  clearly 
justified  :  then  was  the  kingdom  of  heaven  taken  by  force  ;  ;md  the 
love  of  Christ,  and  of  the  brethren,  began  to  burn  the  chaff  of  sel- 
fishness and  sin  with  a  ferce  which  the  world  had  never  seen  before. 
See  Act?  ii.  42,  &lc. — Some  time  after,  another  glorious  baptism,  or 
capital  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  carried  the  disciples  of  Christ  farther 
into  the  kingdom  of  grace,  which  perfects  believers  in  one.  And 
therefore  we  find  that  the  account  which  St.  Luke  gives  us  of  them 
after  this  second  capital  manifestation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  a  great 
degree  answers  to  our  Lord's  prayer  for  their  perfection.  He  had 
asked  that  they  all  might  be  one — that  they  might  be  one  as  the  Father 
and  he  are  one,  and  that  they  might  be  perfected  in  one,  John  xvii.  17, 
&c.  And  now  a  fuller  answer  is  given  to  his  deep  request.  Take  it 
in  the  words  of  an  inspired  historian  :  And  when  they  had  prayed,  the 
place  was  shaken  where  they  were  assembled  together,  and  they  were 
[once  more]  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  they  spake  the  word  with 
[still  greater]  boldness ;  and  the  multitude  of  them  that  believed  were  of 
on€,  heart,  and  of  one  soul;  neither  said  any  of  them,  that  aught  of  the 
things  which  he  possessed  were  his  own;  but  they  had  all  things  common, 
^c.  and  great  grace  was  upon  them  all,  Acts  iv.  31,  33.  Who  does 
not  see  in  this  account  a  specimen  of  that  grace  which  our  Lord  had 
asked  for  believers,  when  he  had  prayed  that  his  disciples,  and  those 
who  would  believe  on  him  through  their  word,  might  be  perfected  in 


one 


It  may  be  asked  here,  whether  the  multitude  of  them  that  believed, 
in  those  happy  days,  were  all  perfect  in  love  ?  I  ahswer,  that  if  pure 


TO  ANtlNOaiANISM.  335 

love  had  cast  out  all  selfishness  and  sinful  fear  from  their  hearts,  they 
were  undouhtedly  made  perfect  in  love;    but  as  God  does  not  usually 
remove  the  plague  of  indwelling  sin  till  it  has  been  discovered   and 
lamented  ;  and  as  we  find  in  the  two  next  chapters  an  account  of  the 
guile  of  Ananias  and  his  wife,  and  of  Wxe  partiality  or  selfish  murmur- 
ing of  some  believers,  it  seems  that  those  chiefly,  who  before  were 
strong  in   the   grace   of  their  dispensation,   arose   then  into  sinless 
fathers  ;  and  that  the  ftrst  love  of  other  believers,  through  the  pecu- 
liar blessing  of  Christ   upon  his  infant  church,  was    so  bright   and 
powerful   for  a  time,  that  little  children  had,  or  seemed  to  have,  the 
strength  of  young  men,  and  young  men  the  grace  of  fathers.     And,  in 
this  case,  the  account  which  St.  Luke  gives  of  the  primitive  believers, 
ought  to  be  taken  with  some  restriction.     Thus,  while  many  of  them 
were  perfect  in  love,  inany  might  have  the  imperfection  of  their  love 
only  covered  over  by  a  land  flood  of  peace  and  joy  in  believing.     And 
in  this  case,  what  is  said  of  their  being  all  of  one  heart  and  mind,  and 
of  their  having    all  things  common,  ^^c.    may   only  mean,   that  the 
harmony   of  love   had  not  yet  been  broken,  and  that  none  had  yet 
betrayed  any   of  the  uncharitableness  for  which   Christians  in  after 
ages  became  so  conspicuous.     With  respect  to  the  great  grace  which 
was  upon  them  all,  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  they   were  all 
equally  strong  in  grace,  for  great  unity  and  happiness  may  rest  upon  a 
whole  family,  where  the  difference  between  a  father,  a  young  man, 
and  a  child,  continues  to  subsist.     However,  it  is  not  improbable,  that 
God,  to  open  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  in  a  manner  which  might 
fix  the  attention  of  all  ages  upon  its  importance  and  glory,  permitted 
the  whole  body  of  believers  to  take  an  extraordinary  turn  together 
into  the  Canaan  of  perfect  love,  and  to  show  the  world  the  admirable 
fruit  which  grows  there,  as  the  spies  sent  by  Joshua  took  a  turn  into 
the  good  land  of  promise  before  they  were  settled  in  it,  and  brought 
from  thence  the  bunch  of  grapes,  vvhch  astonished,  and  spirited  up 
the  Israelites,  who  had  not  yet  crossed  Jordan. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  is,  I  think,  undeniable,  from  the  four  first  chap- 
ters of  the  Acts,  that  a  peculiar  power  of  the  Spirit  is  bestowed  upon 
believers  under  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  that  this  power,  through  faith 
on  our  part,  can  operate  the  most  sudden  and  surprij:ing  change  in  our 
souls ;  and  that,  when  our  faith  sh-ill  fully  embrace  the  promise  of 
full  sanctification,  or  of  a  complete  circumcision  of  the  heart  in  the 
Spirit,  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  kindled  so  much  love  on  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost, that  all  the  primitive  believers  loved,  or  seemed  to  love,  e^ch 
other  perfectly,  will  not  fail  to  help  us  to  love  one  another  without  sinful 


336  THE  LAST  CHECK 

self-seeking  ;  and  as  soon  as  we  do  so,  God  dwelleth  in  its,  and  his  love 
is  perfected  in  us,     1  John  iv.  12. — John  xiv.  23. 

Should  you  ask,  how  many  baptisms,  or  eflfusions  of  the  sanctifying 
Spirit  are  necessary  to  cleanse  a  believer  from  all  sin,  and  to  kindle 
bis  soul  into  perfect  love  :  I  reply,  that  the  effect  of  a  sanctifying  truth 
depending  upon  the  ardour  of  the  faith  with  which  that  truth  is 
embraced,  and  upon  the  power  of  the  Spirit  with  which  it  is  applied, 
I  should  betray  a  want  of  modesty,  if  I  brought  the  operations  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  the  energy  of  faith,  under  a  rule  which  is  not 
expressly  laid  down  in  the  Scriptures.  If  you  ask  your  physician, 
how  many  doses  of  physic  you  must  take  before  all  the  crudities  of 
your  stomach  can  be  carried  off,  and  your  appetite  perfectly  restored, 
he  would  probably  answer  you,  that  this  depends  upon  the  nature  of 
those  crudities,  the  strength  of  the  medicine,  and  the  manner  in  which 
your  constitution  will  allow  it  to  operate ;  and  that,  in  general,  you 
must  repeat  the  dose,  as  you  can  bear,  till  the  remedy  has  fully 
answered  the  desired  end.  I  return  a  similar  answer  :  If  one  power- 
ful baptism  of  the  Spirit  seal  you  unto  the  day  of  redemption,  and 
cleanse  you  from  all  [moral]  Jilthiness^  so  much  the  better.  If  two  or 
more  be  necessary,  the  Lord  can  repeat  them  :  his  arm  is  not  short- 
ened that  it  cannot  save :  nor  is  his  promise  of  the  Spirit  stinted  :  he  , 
says  in  general,  Whosoever  will,  let  him  come  and  take  of  the  water  of 
life  freely. — If  you,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your 
children :  how  much  more  will  your  heavenly  Father  [who  is  goodness 
itself]  give  his  holy  [sanctifying]  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him!  I  may 
however  venture  to  say  in  general,  that  before  we  can  rank  among 
perfect  Christians,  we  must  receive  so  much  of  the  truth  and  Spirit 
of  Christ  by  faith,  as  to  have  the  pure  love  of  God  and  man  shed 
abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  given  unto  us,  and  to  be  filled 
with  the  meek  and  lowly  mind  which  was  in  Christ.  And  if  one  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit,  one  bright  manifestation  of  the  sanctifying  truth, 
so  empties  us  of  self,  as  to  fill  us  with  t^e  mind  of  Christ,  and  with 
pure  love,  we  are  undoubtedly  Christians  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word. 
From  the  ground  of  my  soul,  I  therefore  subscribe  to  the  answer 
which  a  great  Divine  makes  to  the  following  objection  : 

*'  But  some  who  are  newly  justified  do  come  up  to  this  [Christian 
perfection :]  What  then  will  you  say  to  these  ?" — Mr.  Wesley  replies 
with  great  propriety  :  "  If  they  really  do,  I  will  say,  they  are  sanc- 
tified, saved  from  sin  in  that  moment;  and  that  they  never  need  lose 
what  God  has  given,  or  feel  sin  any  more.  But  certainly  this  is  an 
exempt  case.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  generality  of  those  that  are 
justified.     They  feel  in  themselves,  more  or  less,  pride,  anger,  self- 


TO  ANTINOMIANISI^.  ^37 

will,  and  a  heart  bent  to  backsliding.  An  till  they  have  gradually 
mortified  these,  they  ;<re  fully  renewed  in  love  !  God  iisually  gives  a 
considerable  time  for  men  to  receive  light,  to  grow  in  grace,  to  do  and 
suff'er  his  will  before  they  are  either  justified  or  sanctified.  But  he 
does  not  invariably  adhere  to  this.  Sometimes  he  cuts  short  his  -work. 
He  does  the  work  of  many  years  in  a  few  weeks  :  perhaps  in  a  week^ 
a  day,  an  hour.  He  justifies  or  sanctifies  both  those  who  ha\^  done 
or  suffered  nothing,  and  who  have  not  had  time  for  a  gradual  growth 
either  in  light  or  grace.  And  may  he  not  do  what  he  will  with  hi$ 
own  ?  Is  thine  eye  evil,  because  he  is  good  ?  It  need  not  therefore  be 
proved  by  forty  texts  of  Scripture,  either  that  most  men  are  perfected 
in  love  at  last,  or  that  there  is  a  gradual  work  of  God  in  the  soul ; 
and  that,  generally  speaking,  it  is  a  long  time,  even  many  years,  before 
sin  is  destroyed.  All  this  we  know.  But  we  know  likewise,  that 
God  may,  with  man's  good  leave,  cut  short  his  work,  in  whatever* 
degree  he  pleases,  and  do  the  usual  work  of  many  years  in  a  moment. 
He  does  so  in  many  instances.  And  yet  there  is  a  gradual  work  both 
before  and  after  that  moment.  So  that  one  may  affirm,  the  ivork  is 
gradual;  another,  it  is  instantaneous,  without  any  manner  of  contra» 
diction."  Plain  Account,  page  115,  &c.  Page  155,  the  same  eminent 
divine  explains  himself  more  fully,  thus  :  "  It  [Christian  perfection] 
is  constantly  preceded  and  followed  by  a  gradual  work.  But  is  it  irt 
itself  instantaneous  or  not?  In  examining  this,  let  us  go  on  step  by 
step.  An  instantaneous  change  has  been  wrought  in  some  believers  : 
none  can  deny  this.  Since  that  change  they  enjoy  perfect  love.  They 
feel  this,  and  this  alone.  They  rejoice  evermore,  pray  withoxii 
ceasing,  in  every  thing  give  thanks.  Now  this  is  all  that  I  mean  by 
perfection.  Therefore  these  are  witnesses  of  the  perfection  which  1 
preach. — '  But  in  some  this  change  was  not  instantaneous.' — They 
did  not  perceive  the  instant  when  it  was  wrought :  it  is  often  difficult 
to  perceive  the  instant  when  a  man  dies.  Yet  there  is  an  instant  in 
which  life  ceases  And  if  ever  sin  ceases,  there  must  be  a  last 
moment  of  its  existence,  and  a  first  moment  of  our  deliverance  from 
it. — '  But  if  they  have  this  love  now,  they  will  lose  it.' — They  may  ', 
but  they  need  not.  And  whether  they  Ho  or  no,  they  have  it  now : 
they  now  experience  what  we  teach.  They  now  are  all  love.  They 
now  rejoice,  pray,  and  praise  without  ceasing. — '  However,  sin  is  only 
suspended  in  them ;  it  is  not  destroyed.' — Call  it  which  you  please. 
They  are  all  love  to-day  :  and  they  take  no  thought  for  the  morrow/' 
— To  return  : 

2.   When  you  firmly  assent  to  the  truth  of  the  precepts  and  pro 
raises,  on  which  the  doctrine  of  Chrijstian  perfection  is  founded  : — 

Vol,  fV  4.S 


338  THE    LAST    CHECK 

when  you  understand  the  meaning  of  these  scriptures,  Sanctify  them 
through  thy  truth,  thy  word  is  truth — /  will  send  the  Comforter,  [the 
Spirit  of  truth  and  hohuess]  u7ito  you  ;  God  hath  chosen  you  to  [eternal] 
salvation  through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit  and  belief  of  the  truth :— ^ 
When  you  see  that  the  way  lo  Christian  perfection  is  by  the  word  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ, — hy  faith — and  by  the  Spirit  of  God  :  in  the 
next  pl^ce  get  tolerably  clear  ideas  of  this  perfection.  This  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  If  you  will  hit  a  mark,  you  must  know  where  it 
is.  Some  people  aim  at  Christian  perfection :  but  mistaking  it  for 
ansrelical  perfection,  they  shool  above  the  mark,  miss  it,  and  then 
peevishly  give  up  their  hopes.  Others  place  the  mark  as  much  too 
low  :  hence  it  is  that  you  hear  them  profess  to  have  attained  Chris- 
tian perfection,  when  they  have  not  so  much  as  attained  the  mental 
serenity  of  a  philosopher,  or  the  candour  of  a  good-natured,  con- 
scientious heathen.  In  the  preceding  pages,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  the 
mark  is  tixed  according  to  the  rules  of  scriptural  moderation.  It  is 
not  placed  so  high,  as  to  make  you  despair  of  hitting  it,  if  you  do  your 
best  in  an  evangelical  manner:  nor  yet  so  low,  as  to  allow  you  to 
pre<M]me,  that  you  can  reach  it,  without  exerting  all  your  abilities  to 
the  uttermost,  in  due  subordination  to  the  efficacy  of  Jesus's  blood,  and 
the  Spirit's  sanctifying  influences.  .^ 

3.  Should  you  ask,  "  Which  is  the  way  to  Christian  perfection  ? 
Shall  we  go  on  to  it  by  internal  stillness,  agreeably  to  this  direction  of 
Moses  and  David,  Tlie  Lord  will  fight  for  you,  and  ye  shall  hold  your 
peace  ;  stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  God. — Be  still,  and  knoxv  that 
I  am  God. — Stand  in  awe,  and  sin  not :  commune  with  your  own  heart 
upon  your  bed,  and  be  still?  Or  shall  we  press  after  it  by  an  internal 
wrestling,  according  to  these  commands  of  Christ — Strive  to  enter  in 
at  the  strait  gate :  the  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the 
violent  take  it  by  force,  &c. 

According  to  the  evangelical  balance  of  the  doctrines  of  free  grace 
Tkndfree  will,  I  answer  that  the  way  to  perfection  is  by  the  due  combi- 
nation of  prevenient,  assisting /^ce^race;  and  of  submissive,  assisted 
free  will.  Antinomian  stillness,  therefore,  which  says  that  free  grace 
must  do  all,  is  not  the  way.  Pharisaic  activity,  which  will  do  most,  if 
not  all,  is  not  the  way.  Join  these  two  partial  systems  ;  allowing 
free  grace  the  lead  and  high  pre-eminence  which  it  so  justly  claims  ; 
and  you  have  the  balance  of  the  two  Gospel  axioms.  You  do  jflstice 
to  the  doctrines  of  mercy  and  justice — of  free  grace  and  free  will — of 
divine  faithfulness  in  keeping  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  of  human 
faithfulness  in  laying  hold  on  that  covenant,  and  keeping  within  its 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  339 

bounds  : — In  short,  you  have  the  Scripture  method  of  waiting  upon 
God,  which  Mr.  Wesley  describes  thus  : 

Restless,  resigrCd  for  God,  I  wait : 

For  God  my  vehement  soul  stands  still. 

To  understand  these  lines,  consider  that  faith,  like  the  Virgia 
Mary,  is  alternately  a  receiver  and  a  bestozver  :  first,  it  passively  receives 
the  impregnation  of  divine  grace,  saying,  Behold  the  handmaid  of  the 
Lord :  let  it  be  done  to  me  according  to  thy  word  ;  and  then,  it  actively 
brings  forth  its  heavenly  fruit  with  earnest  labour. — God  worketh  in 
you  to  will  and  to  do,  says  St.  Paul  :  here  he  describes  the  passive 
office  of  faith,  which  submits  to,  and  acquiesces  in,  every  dispen- 
sation and  operation. — Therefore  work  out  your  salvation  with  fear 
and  trembling,  and  of  consequence,  with  haste,  diligence,  ardour,  and 
faithfulness  :  here  the  apostle  describes  the  active  office  of  that 
mother  grace,  ivhich  carefully  lays  out  the  talent  she  has  already 
received.  Would  ye  then  wait  aright  for  Christian  perfection  ?  Im- 
partially admit  the  Gospel  axioms,  and  faithfully  reduce  them  to  prac- 
tice. In  order  to  this,  let  them  meet  in  your  hearts,  as  the  two  legs 
of  a  pair  of  compasses  meet  in  the  rivet,  which  makes  them  one  com- 
pounded instrument.  Let  your  faith  in  the  doctrine  of  free  grace, 
and  Christ's  righteousness,  fix  your  mind  upon  God,  as  you  fix  one  of 
the  legs  of  your  compasses  immoveably  in  the  centre  of  the  circle, 
which  you  are  about  to  draw  :  so  shall  you  stand  still  according  to  the 
first  texts  produced  in  the  question.  And  then,  let  your  faith  in  the 
doctrine  of  free  will,  and  evangelical  obedience,  make  you  steadily  run 
the  circle  of  duty  around  that  firm  centre  ;  so  shall  you  imitate  the 
other  leg  of  the  compasses  which  evenly  moves  around  the  centre, 
and  traces  the  circumference  of  a  perfect  circle.  By  this  activity, 
subordinate  to  grace,  you  will  take  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by  force. 
When  your  heart  quietly  rests  in  God  by  faith,  as  it  steadily  acts  the 
part  of  a  passive  receiver,  it  resembles  the  leg  of  the  compasses  which 
rests  in  the  centre  of  the  circle  ;  and  then  the  poet's  expressions, 
restless — resigned,  describe  its  fixedness  in  God.  But  when  your  heart 
swiftly  moves  towards  God  by  faith  as  it  acts  the  part  of  a  diligent 
zvorker — when  your  ardent  soul  follows  after  God  as  a  thirsty  deer 
does  after  the  water  brooks,  it  may  be  compared  to  the  leg  of  the 
compasses  which  traces  the  circumference  of  the  circle;  and  then, 
these  words  of  the  poet,  restless  and  vehement,  properly  belong  to  it. 
To  go  on  steadily  to  perfection,  you  must  therefore  endeavour  steadily 
to  believe,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  first  Gospel  axiom  ;  and 
[as  there  is  opportunity]  diligently  to  work,  according  to  the  doctrine 


i340  i'HE    LAST    CHECK 

of  the  second  :  and  the  moment  your  faith  is  steadily  fixed  in  God  as 
in  your  centre,  and  your  obedience  swiftly  moves  in  the  circle  of 
duty  from  the  rest  and  power  which  you  find  in  that  centre  you  have 
attained  ;  you  are  made  perfect  in  the  fiiith  which  works  by  love. 
Your  humble  faith  saves  you  from  Pharisaism,  your  obedient  love 
from  Antinomianism,  and  both,  in  due  subordination  to  Christ,  con- 
stitute you  a  just  man  made  perfect^  according  to  your  dispensation.* 

4.  Another  question  has  also  puzzled  many  sincere  Perfectionists, 
and  the  solution  of  it  may  remove  a  considerable  hinderance  out  of 
your  wa}'.  "  Is  Christian  perfection,  say  they,  to  be  instantaneously 
brought  down  to  us  ? — Or  are  we  gradually  to  grow  up  to  it  ? — Shall 
we  be  made  perfect  in  love  by  a  habit  of  holiness  suddenly  infused 
into  us,  or  by  acts  of  feeble  faith  and  feeble  love  so  frequently 
repeated  as  to  become  stronjo;,  habitual,  and  evangelically  natural 
to  us,  according  to  the  well  known  maxim,  A  strong  habit  is  a  second 
nature?'*^ 

Both  ways  are  good :  and  instances  of  some  believers  gradually 
perfected,  and  of  others  [comparatively  speaking]  instantaneously 
fixed  in  perfect  love,  might  probably  be  produced,  if  we  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  experiences  o^  all  those  who  have  died  in  a  state  of 
evangelical  perfection.  It  may  be  with  the  root  of  sin,  as  it  is  with 
its  fruit :  some  souls  parley  many  years,  before  they  can  be  per- 
suaded to  give  up  all  their  outward  sins,  and  others  part  with  them, 
as  it  were,  instantaneously.  You  may  compare  the  former  to  those 
besieged  towns  who  make  a  long  resistance,  or  to  those  mothers  who 
go  through  a  tedious  and  lingering  labour ;  and  the  latter  resemble 
those  fortresses  which  are  surprised  and  carried  by  storm ;  or  those 
women  who  are  delivered  almost  as  soon  as  labour  comes  upon  them. 
Travellers  inform  us  that  vegetation  is  so  quick  and  powerful  in 
some  warm  climates,  that  the  seeds  of  some  vegetables  yield  a  sallad 
in  less  than  twenty  four  hours.  Should  a  northern  philosopher  say, 
Impossible!  and  should  an  English  gardener  exclaim  against  such 
mushroom  sallad,  they  would  only  expose  their  prejudices,  as  do  those 
who  decry  instantaneous  justification,  or  mock  at  the  possibility  of 
the  instantaneous  destruction  of  indwelling  sin. 

For  where  is  the  absurdity  of  this  doctrine  ?  If  the  light  of  a  can- 
dle brought  into  a  dark  room  can  instantly  expel  the  darkness  ;  and 
if,  upon  opening  your  shutters  at  noon,  your  gloomy  apartment  can 
instantaneously  be  filled  with  meridian  light  ;  why  might  not  the 
instantaneous  rending  of  the  vail  of  unbelief,  or  the  sudden  and  full 
opening  of  your  faith,  instantly  fill  your  soul  with  the  light  of  truth, 
^nd  the  fire  of  love  :  supposing  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise  upon 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  ,  341 

^fon  with  powerful  healins;  in  his  wings  ?  May  not  the  Sanctifier  de- 
scend upon  your  waiting  soul,  as  quickly  as  the  Spirit  descended  upon 
your  Lord  at  his  baptism  ?  Did  it  not  descend  as  a  dove^  that  is,  with 
the  soft  motion  of  a  dove,  which  swiftly  shoots  down,  and  instantly 
lights?  A  good  man  said  once  with  truth,  "  A  mote  is  little  when  it 
is  compared  to  the  sun,  but  I  am  far  less  before  God."  Alluding 
to  this  comparison,  I  ask,  \f  the  «un  could  instantly  kindle  a  mote  ; 
nav,  if  a  burning-glass  can  in  a  moment  calcine  a  bone,  and  turn  a 
stone  to  lime ;  and  if  the  dim  flame  of  a  candle  can  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye  destroy  the  flying  insect  which  comes  within  its  sphere, 
how  unscriptural  and  irrational  is  it  to  suppose,  that,  when  God 
fully  baptizes  a  soul  with  his  sanctifying  Spirit  and  with  the  ce- 
lestial fire  of  his  love,  he  cannot  in  an  instant  destroy  the  man  of  sin, 
burn  up  the  chaff"  of  corruption,  melt  the  heart  of  stone  into  a 
heart  of  flesh,  and  kindle  the  believing  soul  into  pure  seraphic 
love. 

An  appeal  to  parallel  cases  may  throw  some  light  upon  the  ques- 
tion which  I  answer.  If  you  were  sick,  and  asked  of  God  the  per- 
fect recovery  of  your  health,  how  would  you  look  for  it  ?  Would  you 
expect  to  have  your  strength  restored  to  you  at  once,  without  any  ex- 
ternal means,  as  the  lepers  who  were  instantly  cleansed  :  and  as  the 
paralytic,  who,  at  our  Lord's  word,  took  up  the  bed  upon  which  he 
lay,  and  carried  it  away  upon  his  shoulders  ?  Or  by  using  some  exter- 
nal means  of  a  slower  operation,  as  the  ten  lepers  did,  who  were  more 
^i-adually  cleansed,  as  they  went  to  ihow  themselves  to  the  priests  ?  Or  as 
king  Hezekiah,  whose  gradual,  but  equally  sure  recovery,  was  owing 
to  God's  blessing  upon  the  poultice  of  figs  prescribed  by  Isaiah  ? 
Again — If  you  were  blind,  and  besought  the  Lord  to  give  you  per- 
fect human  sight ;  how  should  you  wait  for  it?  As  Bartimeus,  whose 
eyes  were  opened  in  an  instant  ?  Or  as  the  man  who  received  his 
sight  by  degrees  ?  At  first  he  saw  nothing  ;  by  and  by  he  confusedly 
discovered  the  objects  before  him,  but  at  last  he  saw  all  things  clear- 
ly. Would  ye  not  earnestly  wait  for  an  answer  to  your  prayers  noa- 
— leaving  to  divine  wisdom  the  particular  manner  of  your  recovery  ^ 
And  why  should  ye  not  go  and  do  likewise,  with  respect  to  the  dread- 
ful disorder  which  we  call  indwelling  sin  ? 

If  our  hearts  be  purified  by  faith,  as  the  Scriptures  expressly  tes- 
tify ; — if  lhe/ai</j,  which  peculiarly  purifies  the  hearts  of  Christians, 
be  a  faith  in  the  promise  of  the  Father,  which  promise  was  made  by 
the  Son,  and  directly  points  at  a  peculiar  eff'usion  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  purifier  of  spirits  ; — if  we  may  believe  in  a  moment ; — and  if 
God  may  in  a  moment  seal  our  sanctifying  faith  by  sending  us  a  fulness 


342  THE    LAST    CHECK 

of  his  sanctifying  Spirit ; — if  this,  I  say,  may  be  the  case,  does  it  not 
follow,  that  to  deny  the  possibility  of  the  instantaneous  destruction  of 
sin  ;  is  to  deny,  [contrary  to  Scripture  and  matter  of  fact]  that  we 
can  make  an  instantaneous  act  of  faith  in  the  sanctifying  promise  of 
the  Father,  and  in  the  all-cleansing  blood  of  the  Son,  and  that  God 
can  seal  that  act  by  the  instantaneous  operation  of  his  Spirit  ?  which 
St.  Paul  calls  the  circumcision  of  the  heart  in  [or  by]  the  Spirit^  ac- 
cording to  the  Lord's  ancient  promise,  /  will  circumcise  thy  heart,  to 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart.  Where  is  the  absurdity  of 
believing  that  the  God  of  all  grace  can  give  an  answer  to  the  poet's 
rational  and  evangelical  request, 


Open  ray  faith's  interior  eye  : 
Display  thy  glory  from  above  : 

And  sinful  self  shall  sink  and  die, 
Lost  in  astonishment  and  love  ? 


If  a  momentary  display  of  Christ's  bodily  glory  could  in  an  in- 
stant turn  Saul,  the  'blaspheming,  bloody  pf-rsecuior,  into  Paul, 
the  praying,  gentle  apostle; — if  a  sudden  sight  of  Christ's  hands, 
could  in  a  moment  root  up  from  Thomas's  heart  that  detestable  reso- 
lution, I  will  not  believe,  and  produce  that  deep  Confession  of  fiith, 
My  Lord,  and  my  God  I  what  cannot  the  display  of  Christ's  spiritual 
glory  operate  in  a  believing  soul, .to  which  he  manifests  himself  ac- 
cording to  that  power  whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  to  himself? 
Again  :  if  Christ's  body  could  in  an  instant  become  so  glorious  on  the 
mount,  that  his  very  garments  partook  of  the  sudden  irradiation, 
became  not  only  free  from  every  spot,  but  also  white  as  the  light, — 
shining  exceeding  white  as  snow ;  so  as  no  fuller  on  the  earth  could 
whiten  them ;  and  if  our  bodies  shall  he  changed — if  this  corruptible 
shall  put  on  incorruption,  and  if  this  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality y 
in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump  ;  why  may 
not  our  believing  souls,  when  they  fully  submit  to  God's  terms,  be 
fully  changed — fully  turned  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God  ? 
When  the  Holy  Ghost  says,  Now  is  the  day  of  salvation,  does  he  ex- 
clude salvation  from  heart  iniquity  ? — If  Christ  now  deserves  fully 
the  name  of  Jesus,  because  he  [fully]  saves  his  believing  people  from  their 
sins :  and  if  now  the  Gospel  trumpet  sounds,  and  sinners  arise  from 
the  dead,  why  should  we  not,  upon  the  perforffj-ance  of  the  condition, 
be  changed  in  a  moment  from  indwelling  sin  to  indwelling  holiness  ? 
Why  should  we  not  pass,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  or  in  a  short 
time,  from  indwelling  death  to  indwelling  life  ? 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  343 

This  is  not  all.  If  you  deny  the  possibility  of  a  quick  destruction 
of  indwelling  sin,  you  send  to  bell,  or  to  some  unscriptural  purgatory, 
not  only  the  dying  thief,  but  also  all  those  martyrs  who  suddenly 
embraced  the  Christian  faith,  and  were  instantly  put  to  death  by 
bloody  persecutors,  for  confessing  the  faith  which  they  had  just 
embraced.  And  if  you  allow  that  God  may  cut  his  work  short  in 
righteousness  in  such  case,  why  not  in  other  cases  ?  Why  not,  espe- 
cially when  a  believer  confesses  his  indwelling  sin,  ardently  prays 
that  Christ  would,  and  sincerely  believes  that  Christ  can,  tiow  cleanse 
him  from  all  unrighteousness  ?  * 

Nobody  is  so  apt  to  laugh  at  the  instantaneous  destruction  of  sin  as 
the  Calvinisis,  and  yet  [such  is  the  inconsistency  which  characterizes 
some  men  !]  their  doctrine  of  purgatory  is  built  upon  it.  For,  if  you 
credit  them,  all  dying  believers  have  a  nature  which  is  still  morally 
corrupted,  and  a  heart  which  is  yet  desperately  wicked.  These  be- 
lievers, still  full  of  indwelling  sin,  instantaneously  breathe  out  their 
last,  and  without  any  peculiar  act  of  faith,  without  any  peculiar  out- 
pouring of  the  sanctifying  Spirit,  corruption  is  instantaneously  gone. 
The  indwelling  man  of  sin  has  passed  through  the  Geneva  purgatory  ; 
he  is  entirely  consumed  !  And  behold  !  the  souls  which  would  not 
hear  of  the  instantaneous  act  of  sanctifying  faith  which  receives  the 
indwelling  Spirit  of  holiness — the  souls  which  pleaded  hard  for  the 
continuance  of  indwelling  sin,  are  now  completely  sinless  ;  and  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  they  appear  in  the  third  heaven  among  the 
spirits  of  just  Christians  made  perfect  in  love  !  Such  is  the  doct  ine 
of  our  opponents  :  and  yet  they  think  it  incredible  that  God  should 
do  for  us,  while  we  pray  in  faith,  tvhat  they  suppose  death  will  do 
for  them,  when  they  lie  in  his  cold  arras,  perhaps  delirious  or 
senseless  ! 

On  the  other  hand,  to  deny  that  imperfect  believers  may,  and  do 
gradually  grow  in  grace,  and  of  course  that  the  remains  of  their  sins 
may,  and  do  gradually  decay,  is  as  absurd  as  to  deny  that  God  waters 
the  earth  by  daily  detvs,  as  well  as  by  thunder  showers  ; — it  is  as 
ridiculous  as  to  assert  that  nobody  is  carried  off  by  lingering  disorders, 
but  that  all  men  die  suddenly,  or  a  few  hours  after  they  are  taken  ill. 
I  use  these  comparisons  about  death  to  throw  some  light  upon  the 
question  which  I  solve,  and  not  to  insinuate  that  the  decay  and 
destruction  of  sin  run  parallel  with  the  decay  and  dissolution  of  the 
body,  and  that,  of  course,  sin  must  end  with  our  bodily  life.  Were  I 
to  admit  this  unscriptural  tenet,  I  should  build  again  what  I  have  all 
along  endeavoured  to  destroy,  and,  as  I  love  consistency,  I  should 
promise  eternal  salvation  to  all  unbelievers ;  for  unbelievers,  I  pre- 


344  THE    LAST    CHECK 

sume,  will  die,  i.  e.  go  into  the  Geneva  purgatory,  as  well  as  believers. 
Nor  do  I  see  why  death  should  not  be  able  to  destroy  the  van  and 
the  inain  body  of  sin's  forces,  if  it  can  so  readily  cut  the  rear  [the 
remains  of  sin]  in  pieces. 

Froaa  the  preceding  observations  it  appears,  that  believers  generally 
go  on  to  Christian  perfection,  as  the  disciples  went  to  the  other  side 
of  the  sea  of  Galilee.  They  toiled  some  time  very  hard  and  with 
little  success.  But  after  they  had  rowed  about  twenty-Jive^  or  thirty 
furlongs,  they  saw  Jesus  walking  on  the  sea.  He  said  to  them.  It  is  I, 
be  not  afraid;  then  they  willingly  received  him,  into  the  ship,  and  imme- 
diately the  ship  was  at  the  land  whither  they  went.  Just  so,  we  toil  till 
our  faith  discovers  Christ  in  the  promise,  and  welcomes  him  into  our 
hearts ;  and  such  is  the  effect  of  his  presence,  that  immediately  we 
arrive  at  the  land  of  perfection. — Or,  to  use  another  illustration  God 
gays  to  believers,  Go  to  the  Canaan  of  perfect  love  :  arise,  why  do 
ye  tarry?  Wash  away  the  remains  of  sin,  calling,  i.  e.  believing  on 
the  name  of  the  Lord.  And  if  they  submit  to  the  obedience  of  faith, 
he  deals  with  them  as  he  did  with  the  evangelist  Philip,  to  whom  he 
had  said.  Arise  and  go  towards  the  south.  For  when  they  arise  and 
run^  as  Philip  did,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  takes  them  as  he  did  the 
evangelist ;  and  they  are  found  in  the  new  Jerusalem,  as  Philip  was 
found  at  Azotus.  They  dwell  in  God  [or  in  perfect  love]  and  God 
[or  perfect  love]  dwells  in  them. 

Hence  it  follows,  that  the  most  evangelical  method  of  following 
after  the  perfection  to  which  we  are  immediately  called,  is  that  of 
seeking  it  noa»,  by  endeavouringytt%  to  lay  hold  on  the  promise  of  that 
perfection  through  faith,  just  as  if  our  repeated  acts  of  obedience 
could  never  help  us  forward.  But  in  the  mean  time  we  should  do 
the  works  of  faith,  and  repeat  our  internal  and  external  acts  of  obe- 
dience with  as  much  earnestness,  and  faithfulness,  according  to  our 
present  power,  as  if  we  were  sure  to  enter  into  rest  merely  by  a 
diligent  use  of  our  talents,  and  a  faithful  exertion  of  the  powers  which 
divine  grace  has  bestowed  upon  us.  If  we  do  not  attend  to  the  first 
of  these  directions,  we  shall  seek  to  be  sanctified  by  works  like  the 
Pharisees  ;  and  if  we  disregard  the  second,  we  shall  fall  into  Solifidian 
sloth  with  the  Antinomians. 

This  double  direction  is  founded  upon  the  connexion  of  the  two 
Gospel  axioms.  If  the  second  axiom,  which  implies  the  doctrine  of 
free  will,  were  false,  I  would  only  say  :  "Be  still,  or  rather  do 
nothing :  free  grace  alone  will  do  all  in  you  and  for  you."  But  as 
this  axiom  is  as  true  as  the  first,  I  must  add,  "  Strive  in  humble  subor- 
dination to  free  grace  •  for  Christ  saith.  To  him  that  hath  initiating 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  34o 

grace  to  purpose,  more  grace  shall  be  qlven,  and  he  shall  have  abun- 
dance :  his  faithful  and  equitable  Benefaclor  will  give  him  the  reward 
of  perfecting  grace. 

6.  Beware  therefore  of  unscriptural  refinements.  Set  out  for  the 
Canaan  of  perfect  love  with  a  firm  rerioluiion  to  labour  for  the  rest 
which  remains  on  earth  for  the  people  of  God.  Some  good,  mistaken 
men,  wise  above  what  is  written,  and  fond  of  striking  out  paths, 
which  were  unknown  to  the  apostles, — new  paths  marked  out  by 
voluntary  humility,  and  leading  to  Antinomianism  ; — some  people  of 
that  stamp,  I  say,  have  made  it  their  business,  from  the  da}  s  of  heated 
Augustin,  to  decry  making  resolutions.  They  represent  this  prac- 
tice as  a  branch  of  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  legality.  They  insi- 
nuate that  it  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  knowledge  of  our  incon- 
stancy and  weakness :  in  a  word,  they  frighten  us  from  the  first  step 
to  Christian  perfection  : — from  an  humble,  evangelical  determination 
to  run,  till  we  reach  the  prize,  or,  if  you  please,  to  go  down  till  we 
come  to  the  lowest  place.  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  point  out  the 
ground  of  their  mistake.  Once  they  broke  the  balance  of  the  Gos- 
pel axioms  by  leaning  too  much  towards  free  willy  and  by  not  laying 
their  ^rsr  and  principal  stress  upon  free  grace.  God,  to  bring  them 
to  the  evangelical  mean,  refused  his  blessing  to  their  unevangelical 
willing  and  running  ;  hence  it  is,  that  their  self-righteous  resolutions 
started  aside  like  a  broken  bow.  When  they  found  out  their  mistake, 
instead  of  coming  back  to  the  line  of  moderation,  they  fled  to  the 
other  extreme.  Casting  all  their  weights  into  the  scale  of/ree  grace, 
they  absurdly  formed  a  resolution  never  to  form  a  resolution  ;  and, 
determining  not  to  throw  one  determination  into  the  scale  o^ free 
will,  they  began  to  draw  all  the  believers  they  met  with  into  the 
ditch  of  a  slothful  quietism,  and  Laodicean  stillness. 

You  will  never  steadily  go  on  to  perfection,  unless  you  get  over 
this  mistake.  Let  the  Imperfectionists  laugh  at  you  for  making  hum- 
ble resolutions  ;  but  go  on,  steadfastly  purposing  to  lead  a  new  life,  as 
says  our  Church  ;  and  in  order  to  this,  steadfastly  purpose  to  get  a 
tiew  heart,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word  ;  for  so  long  as  your  heart 
continues  partly  unrenewed,  your  life  will  be  partly  unholy.  And 
therefore  St.  James  justly  observes,  that  if  any  man  off'cnd  not  in 
word  he  is  a  perfect  man,  he  loves  God  with  all  his  heart,  his  heart  is 
fully  renewed ;  it  being  impossible  that  a  heart  still  tainted  in  part 
with  vanity  and  guile,  should  always  dictate  the  words  of  sincerity 
and  love.  Your  good  resolutions  need  not  fail  :  nor  will  they  fail,  if 
under  a  due  sense  of  the  fickleness  and  helplessness  of  your  unas- 
sisted free  will,  you   properly  depend  upon  God's  faithfulness  and 

Vol.  IV.  44 


346  THE    LAST    CHECK 

assistance.  However,  should  they  fail,  as  they  probably  will  do 
more  than  once,  be  not  discouraged,  but  repent,  search  out  the  cause, 
and  in  the  strength  o^  free  grace,  let  your  assisted  free  will  renew 
your  evangelical  purpose,  till  the  Lord  seals  it  with  his  mighty  7*«^ 
and  says,  Let  it  he  done  to  thee  according  to  thy  resolving  faith.  It  is 
much  better  to  be  laughed  at  as  "  poor  creatures,  who  know  nothing 
of  themselves,"  than  to  be  deluded,  as  foolish  virgins,  who  fondly 
imagine  that  their  vessels  are  full  of  imputed  oil.  Take  therefore 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  boldly  cut  this  dangerous  snare  in  pieces. 
Conscious  of  your  impotence,  and  yet  laying  out  your  talent  of  free 
will,  say  with  the  prodigal  son,  /  will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father: — 
Say  with  David,  /  will  love  thee,  0  Lord  my  God: — I  will  behold  thy 
face  in  righteousness : — /  am  purposed  that  my  mouth  shall  not  trans- 
gress ; — /  will  keep  it,  as  it  were,  with  a  bridle ;  I  have  said,  that  I 
would  keep  thy  word: — The  proud,  and  they  who  are  humble  in  an 
unscriptural  vva}^  have  had  me  exceedingly  in  derision,  but  I  will  keep 
thy  precepts  with  my  whole  heart. — /  have  swor7i,  and  I  will  perform  ity 
that  1  will  keep  thy  righteous  judgments. — Say  with  St.  Paul,  /  am  deter- 
mined, not  to  know  any  thing  save  Jesus,  and  him  crucified ;  and  with 
.Jacob,  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  unless  thou  bless  me!  And,  to  sum  up  all 
good  resolutions  in  one,  if  you  are  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, say,  "  I  have  engaged  to  renounce  all  the  vanities  of  this  wicked 
world,  all  the  sinful  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  all  the  works  of  the  devil : 
to  believe  all  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  and  to  keep  God's 
commandments  all  the  days  df  my  life  ;"  that  is,  I  have  most  solemnly 
resolved  to  be  a  perfect  Christian.  And  this  resolution  I  have  pub- 
licly sealed  by  receiving  the  two  sacraments  upon  it : — Baptism,  after 
my  parents  and  sponsors  had  laid  me  under  this  blessed  vow  ;  and  the 
Lord^s  Supper,  after  I  had  personally  ratified,  in  the  Bishop's  presence, 
what  they  had  done.  Nor  do  I  only  think  that  I  am  bound  to  keep 
this  vow,  but  "  by  God'^s  grace,  so  I  xvill ;  and  I  heartily  thank  our 
heavenly  Father  that  he  has  called  me  to  this  state  of  salvation  [and 
Christian  perfection  ;]  and  I  pray  unto  him  to  give  me  his  grace,  that  I 
may  not  only  attain  it,  but  also  continue  in  the  same  unto  my  lifers  end.''"' 
Church  Catechism. 

<«  Much  diligence  [says  Kempis]  is  necessary  to  him  that  will  profit 
much.  If  he  who  firmly  purposeth  often  faileth,  what  shall  he  do, 
who  seldom  or  feebly  purposeth  ^any  thing  ?"  But,  I  say  it  again  and 
aga»n.  do  not  lean  upon  your jTree  will,  and  good  purposes,  so  as  to 
encroach  upon  the  glorious  pre-eminence  of  free  grace.  Let  the 
first  Gospel  axiom  stand  invarirbly  in  its  honourable  place.  Lay  your 
pjnncipal  stress  wpon  divine  mercy,  and  say  with  the  good  man  whom 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  3J7 

1  have  just  quoted,  ''  Help  me,  O  Lord  God,  in  thy  holy  service,  and 
grant  that  I  may  now  this  day  begin  perfectly." 

In  following  this  method,  ye  will  do  the  two  Gospel  axioms  justice  : 
ye  will  so  depend  upon  God's  free  grace  as  not  to  fall  into  Pliarisais 
running:  and  ye  will  so  exert  your  own  free  xvill,  as  not  to  slide  into 
Antinomian  sloth.  Your  course  lies  exactly  between'  these  rocks. 
To  pass  these  perilous  straits  your  resolving  heart  must  acquire  a 
heavenly  polarity.  Through  the  spiritually  magnetic  touch  of  Christ 
the  corner  stone y  your  soul  must  learn  to  point  towards /a/r/i  and  works ^ 
or  if  you  please,  towards  a  due  submission  to  free  grace,  and  a  due 
exertion  of  free  will,  as  the  opposite  ends  of  the  needle  of  a  com- 
pass point  towards  the  north  and  the  south. 

6.  From  this  direction  flows  the  following  advice.  Resolve  to  be 
perfect  in  yourselves,  but  not  of  yourselves.  The  Antinomians  boast 
that  they  are  perfect  only  in  their  heavenly  Representative.  Christ 
was  filled  with  perfect  humility  and  love  :  they  are  perfect  in  his  per- 
son :  they  need  not  a  perfection  of  humble  love  in  themselves.  To 
avoid  their  error,  be  perfect  in  yourselves,  and  not  in  another  :  let  your 
perfection  of  humility  and  love  be  inherent ;  let  it  dwell  in  you.  Let 
it  fill  your  ozy/i  heart,  and  influence  your  own  life  :  sq  shall  you  avoid 
the  delusions  of  the  virgins,  who  give  you  to  understand,  that  the  oil 
of  their  perfection  is  all  contained  in  the  sacred  vessel  which  for- 
merly hung  on  the  cross,  and  therefore  their  salvation  is  finished,  they 
have  oil  enough  in  that  rich  vessel ;  manna  enough  and  to  spare  in 
that  golden  pot.  Christ's  heart  was  perfect,  and  therefore  theirs  may 
safely  remain  imperfect,  yea,  full  of  indwelling  sin,  till  death,  the 
messenger  of  the  bridegroom,  come  to  cleanse  them,  and  fill  them  with 
perfect  love  at  the  midnight  cry!  Delusive  hope!  Can  any  thing  be 
more  absurd  than  for  a  sapless,  dry  branch,  to  fancy  that  it  has  sap  and 
moisture  enough  in  the  vine  which  it  cumbers  ?  Or  for  an  impeni- 
tent adulterer  to  boast,  that  in  the  Lord  he  has  chastity  and  righteous- 
ness ?  Where  did  Christ  ever  say,  have  salt  in  another?  Does  he  not 
say,  Take  heed  that  ye  be  not  deceived? — Have  salt  in  yourselves,  Mark 
ix.  50  ?  Does  he  not  impute  the  destruction  of  stony  ground  hearers 
to  their  not  having  root  in  themselves,  Matt.  xiii.  21  ?  If  it  was  the 
patient  man's  comfort,  that  the  root  of  the  matter  was  found  iji  him^  is 
it  not  deplorabk  to  hear  modern  believers  say,  without  any  explana- 
tory clause,  that  they  have  nothing  but  sin  in  themselves.^  But  is  it 
enough  to  have  the  root  in  ourselves?  Must  we  not  also  have  ihofrnit 
— yea,  be  filled  with  the  fruit  of  righteousness  ?  Phil.  i.  11.  Is  it  not 
St.  Peter's  doctrine  where  he  says.  If  these  things  be  in  you,  and 
abound,  ye  shall  neither  be  barren,  nor  unfruitful,  in  the  knowledge  of 


348  THE    LAST    CHECK 

Christ?  2  Pet.  i.  8.  And  is  it  not  that  of  David,  where  he  praySy 
create  in  me  a  deanheart,  ^c.  ?  Away  then,  with  all  Antinomian  refine- 
ments :  and  if,  with  St.  Paul,  yo\i  will  have  salvation  and  rejoicing  iu 
yourselves,  and  not  in  another  ;  naake  sure  of  holiness  and  perfection 
in  yourselves^  and  not  in  another. 

But  while  you  endeavour  to  avoid  the  snare  of  the  Antinomians, 
do  not  run  into  that  of  the  Pharisees,  who  will  have  their  perfection 
of  themselves ;  and  therefore,  by  their  own  unevangelical  efforts,  self- 
concerted  willings,  and  seif-prescribed  runnings,  endeavour  to  raise 
sparks  of  their  own  kindling,  and  to  warm  themselves  by  their  own 
painted  fires  and  fruitless  agitations.  Feel  your  omnipotence.  Own 
that  no  man  has  quickened  [and  perfected]  his  own  soul.  Be  contented 
to  invite,  receive,  and  welcome  the  light  of  life :  but  never  attempt 
lo  form,  or  to  engross  it.  It  is  your  duty  to  wait  for  the  morning 
light,  and  to  rejoice  when  it  visits  you  :  but  if  you  grow  so  self-con- 
ceited as,to  say,  "  I  will  create  a  sun  :  Let  there  be  lighf^ — or  if,  when 
the  light  visits  your  eyes,  you  say,  "  I  will  bear  a  stock  of  light,  1  will 
so  fill  my  eyes  with  light  to-day,  that  to-morrow  1  shall  almost  be  able 
to  do  my  work  without  the  sun,  or  at  least  without  a  constant  depen- 
dence upon  its  beams  ;"  would  ye  not  betray  a  species  of  self  deifying 
idolatry,  and  Satanical  pride  ?  If  our  Lord  himself,  as  Son  of  man, 
would  not  have  one  grain  of  human  goodness  himself;  if  he  said, 
Why  callest  thou  me  good  ?  There  is  none  good  [self  good,  or  good  of 
himself]  but  God.  Who  can  wonder  enough  at  those  proud  Christians, 
who  claim  some  self-originated  goodness  ;  boasting  of  what  they  have 
received,  as  if  they  had  not  received  it ;  or  using  what  they  have 
received  without  an  humble  sense  of  their  constant  dependence  upon 
their  heavenly  Benefactor  ?  To  avoid  this  horrid  delusion  of  the  Pha- 
risees, learn  to  see,  to  feel,  and  to  acknowledge,  that  of  the  Father, 
through  the  Son,  and  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  all  your  Urimand  Thum- 
mim.  your  lights  and  perfections :  and  while  the  Lord  says,  From  me 
thy  fruit  is  found,  Hos.  xiv.  8.  bow  at  his  footstool,  and  gratefully 
reply,  Of  thy  fulness  have  all  we  received,  and  grace  for  gracCy  John 
i.  16.  For  thou  art  the  Father  of  lights,  from  whom  cometh  every 
^ood  and  perfect  gift,  James  j.  17. — Of  thee,  and  through  thee,  and  to 
thee,  are  all  things :  to  thee,  therefore,  be  the  glory  for  ever,  Amen. 
Rom.  xi.  36. 

7.  You  will  have  this  humble  and  thankful  disposition,  if  you  let  your 
repentance  cast  deeper  roots.  For  if  Christian  perfection  imphes  a 
forsaking  of  all  inward,  as  well  as  outward  sin  :  and  if  true  repentance 
is  a  grace  zvhereby  we  forsake  sin,  it  follows,  that  to  attain  Christian  per- 
fection, we  must  so  follow  our  Lord's  evangelical  precept,  Repent,  for 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  349 

the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  handy  as  to  leave  no  tin — no  bosom  sin- 
no  indwelling  sin  unrepented  of,  and  of  consequence  uiforsaken.  He 
whose  heart  is  still  full  of  indwelling  sin,  has  no  more  truly  repented 
of  indwelling  sin,  than  the  man  whose  mouth  is  still  defiled  with  filthy 
talking  and  jesting,  has  truly  repented  of  his  ribaldry.  The  deeper 
our  sorrow  for,  and  detestation  of,  indwelling  sin  is,  the  more  peni- 
tently do  we  confess  the  plague  of  our  hearts,  and  when  we  properly 
confess  it,  we  inherit  the  blessing  promised  in  these  words,  If  we 
confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness: 

To  projnote  this  deep  repentance,  consider  how  many  spiritual 
evils  still  haunt  your  breast.  Look  into  the  inward  chamber  of 
imagery,  where  assuming  self-love^  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  vaia 
thoughts,  foolish  desires*  and  wild  imaginations,  keeps  her  court. 
Grieve  that  your  heart,  which  should  be  all  flesh,  is  yet  partly  stone  ; 
and  that  your  soul,  which  should  be  only  a  temple  for  the  Holy 
Ghost,  is  yet  so  frequently  turned  into  a  den  of  thieves,  a  hole  for  the 
cockatrice,  a  nest  for  a  brood  of  spiritual  vipers, — for  the  remains  of 
envy,  jealousy,  fretfulness,  anger,  pride,  impatience,  peevishness, 
formality,  sloth,  prejudice,  bigotry,  carnal  confidence,  evil  shame, 
self-righteousness,  tormenting  fears,  uncharitable  suspicions,  idola- 
trous love,  and  1  know  not  how  many  of  the  evils  which  form  the 
retinue  of  hypocrisy  and  unbelief.  Through  grace  detect  these 
evils  by  a  close  attention  to  what  passes  in  your  own  heart  at  all 
times,  but  especially  in  an  hour  of  temptation.  By  frequent  and  deep 
confession,  drag  out  all  these  abominations — these  sins,  which  would 
not  have  Christ  to  reign  alone  over  you,  bring  before  him  :  place  them 
in  the  light  of  his  countenance  ;  and  (if  you  do  it  in  faith)  that  light, 
and  the  warmth  of  his  love,  will  kill  them,  as  the  light  and  heat  of  the 
sun  kill  the  worms  which  the  plough  turns  up  to  the  open  air  in  a 
dry  summer's  day. 

Nor  plead  that  you  can  do  nothing  ;  for,  by  the  help  of  Christ,  who 
is  always  ready  to  assist  the  helpless,  ye  can  solemnly  say  upon  your 
knees,  what  ye  have  probably  said  in  an  airy  manner  to  your  pro- 
fessing friends.  If  ye  ever  acknowledged  to  them  that  your  heart  is 
deceitful,  prone  to  leave  undone  what  ye  ought  to  do,  and  ready  to  do 
what  ye  ought  to  leave  undone  ;  ye  can  undoubtedly  make  the  same 
confession  to  God.  Complain  to  him  who  can  help  you,  as  ye  have 
done  to  those  who  cannot.  Lament,  as  you  are  able,  the  darkness  of 
your  mind,  the  stubbornness  of  your  will,  the  dulness  or  exorbitancy 
of  your  afl'ections,  and  importunately  entreat  the  God  of  all  grace  to 
renew  a  right  spirit  within  you.     If  ye  sorrow  after  this  godly  sort,  what 


350  THE    LAST    CHECK 

carefulness  will  be  wrought  in  you !  What  indignation !  What  fear  / 
What  vehement  desire  !  What  zeal !  Yea,  what  revenge !  Ye  will  then 
sing  in  faith,  what  the  Imperfectionists  sing  in  unbelief: 

O  how  I  hate  those  Iqsts  of  mine, 

That  crucified  my  God  : 
Those  sins  that  pierc'd  and  nail'd  his  flesh 

Fast  to  the  fatal  wood  ! 

Yes,  my  Redeemer,  they  shall  die, 

My  heart  hath  so  decreed ; 
Nor  will  I  spare  those  guilty  things 

That  made  my  Saviour  bleed. 

Whilst  with  a  melting — broken  heart. 

My  murder'd  Lord  I  view, 
I'll  raise  revenge  against  my  sins, 

And  slay  the  murderers  too. 

8.  Closely  connected  with  this  deep  repentance  is  the  practice  of  a 
judicious,  universal  self-denial.  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  says  our 
Lord,  deny  thyself;  take  up  thy  cross  daily  ;  and  follow  me.  He  that 
loveth  father  or  mother,  [much  more  he  that  loveth  praise,  pleasure, 
or  money,]  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me :  nay.  Whosoever  will 
save  his  life  shall  lose  it :  and  whosoever  will  lose  it  for  my  sake  shall 
find  it.  Many  desire  to  live  and  reign  with  Christ,  but  few  choose 
to  suffer  and  die  with  him.  However,  as  the  way  of  the  cross  leads 
to  heaven,  it  undoubtedly  leads  to  Christian  perfection.  To  avoid  the 
cross,  therefore  ;  or  to  decline  drinking  the  cup  of  vinegar  and  gall, 
which  God  permits  your  friends  or  foes  to  mix  for  you,  is  to  throw 
away  the  aloes  which  Divine  Wisdom  puts  to  the  breasts  of  the  mo- 
ther, of  harlots,  to  wean  you  from  her  and  her  witchcrafts  :  it  is  to 
refuse  a  medicine  which  is  kindly  prepared  to  restore  your  health 
and  appetite — in  a  word,  it  is  to  renounce  the  Physician,  who  heals 
all  our  infirmities,  when  we  take  his  bitter  draughts,  submit  to  have 
our  imposthumes  opened  by  his  sharp  lancet,  and  yield  to  have  our 
proud  flesh  wasted  away  by  his  painful  caustics.  Our  Lord  was 
made  a  perfect  Saviour  through  sufferings,  and  we  may  be  made  per- 
fect Christians  in  the  same  manner.  We  may  be  called  to  suffer,  till 
all  that  which  we  have  brought  out  of  spiritual  Egypt  is  consumed  in 
a  howling  wilderness,  in  a  dismal  Gethsemane,  or  on  a  shameful  Cal- 
vary. Should  this  lot  be  reserved  for  us,  let  us  not  imitate  our 
Lord's  imperfect  disciples,  who  forsook  him  and  fled ;  but  let  us  stand 
the  fiery  trial,  till  all  our  fetters  are  melted,  and  our  dross  is  purged 
away.     Fire  is  of  a  purgative  nature  ;  it  separates  the  dross  from 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  351 

the  gold  :  and  the  fiercer  it  is,  the  more  quick  and  powerful  is  its 
operation.  He  that  is  left  in  Zion,  and  he  that  remaineth  in  Jerusalem^ 
shall  be  called  holy^  4*c.  when  the  Lord  shall  have  ■washed  atca?/  the  filth 
of  the  daughters  of  Zion^  and  shall  have  purged  the  blood  of  Jerusalem 
hij  the  spirit  of  judgment  and  by  the  spirit  of  burning.  Isa.  iv.  4. — / 
Ziill  bring  the  third  part  through  the  fire,  saith  the  Lord,  and  will  refine 
them  as  silver  is  refined,  and  will  try  them  as  gold  is  tried :  they  shall 
rail  on  my  name,  and  I  will  hear  them  :  I  will  say,  it  is  my  people  ;  and 
they  shall  say.  The  Lord  is  my  God.  Zech.  iii.  0.  Therefore,  if  the 
Lord  should  suffer  the  best  men  in  his  camp,  or  tlie  strongest  men  in 
Satan's  army,  to  cast  you  into  a  furnace  of  fiery  temptations,  come  not 
out  of  it  till  you  are  called.  Let  patience  have  its  perfect  work  : 
meekly  keep  your  trying  station,  till  your  heart  is  disengaged  from 
all  that  is  earthly,  and  till  the  sense  of  God's  preserving  power  kin- 
dles in  you  such  a  faith  in  his  omnipotent  love,  as  few  experimentally 
know,  but  they  who  have  seen  themselves,  like  the  mysterious  bush 
in  Horeb,  burning,  and  yet  unconsumed  ;  or  they  who  can  say  with 
St.  Paul,   We  are  killed  all  the  day  long — dying,  and  behold  we  live  ! 

"  Temptations  (says  Kempis)  are  often  very  profitable  to  men, 
though  they  be  troublesome  and  grievous  :  for  in  them  a  man  is 
humbled,  purified,  and  instructed.  All  the  saints  have  passed  through, 
and  profited  by,  many  tribulations  ;  and  they  that  could  not  bear  tempt- 
ations became  reprobates,  and  fell  away." — "My  son,"  adds  the 
author  of  Ecclesiasticus,  chap.  ii.  1.  "  if  thou  come  to  serve  the 
Lord"  7?i  the  perfect  beauty  of  holiness,  ''  prepare  thy  soul  for  tempta- 
tion. Set  thy  heart  aright;  constantly  endure,  and  make  not  baste  in 
the  time  of  trouble.  Whatever  is  brought  upon  thee,  take  cheerfully  ; 
and  be  patient  when  thou  art  changed  to  a  low  estate  ;  for  gold  is 
tried  and  purified  in  the  fire,  and  acceptable  men  in  the  furnace  of 
adversity." — And  therefore,  says  St.  James,  Blessed  is  the  man  that 
endureth  temptation;  for  when  he  is  tried  [if  he  stands  the  fiery  trial,] 
he  shall  receive  the  crown  of  life,  which  the  Lord  has  promised  to  them 
that  love  him,  [with  the  love  which  endureth  all  things,  i.  e.  wilh  per- 
fect love]  James  i.  12.  Patienlly  endure,  then,  when  God/or  a  season, 
[if  need  be]  suffers  you  to  be  in  heaviness  through  manifold  temptations.. 
By  this  mean,  the  trial  of  your  faith  being  inuch  more  precious  than 
that  of  gold  which  perisheth^  though  it  be  tried  in  the  fire,  will  be  found 
unto  praise,  and  honour,  and  glory,  at  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ.  1 
Pet.  i.  7. 

9.  Deep  repentance  is  good,  Gospel  self-denial  is  excellent,  and  a 
degree  of  patient  resignation  in  trials  is  of  unspeakable  use  to  attain 
the  perfection  of  love  ;  but  as  faifh  immediately  works  by  love,   it  i^ 


352  THE    LAST   CHECK 

of  far  more  immediate  use  to  purify  the  soul.  Hence  it  is,  that 
Christ,  the  prophets,  and  the  apostles,  so  strongly  insist  upon  faith; 
assuring  us  that  if  we  will  not  believe,  we  shall  not  be  established: — 
that  if  we  will  believe  we  shall  see  the  glory  of  God  : — we  shall  be  saved : 
■ — and  rivers  of  living  water  shall  How  from  our  inmost  souls ; — and 
that  our  hearts  are  purified  by  faith  ; — and  that  we  are  saved  by  grace 
through  faith.  They  tell  us,  that  Christ  gave  himself  for  the  church, 
that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it — by  the  word  ;  that  he  might  pre- 
sent it  to  himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any 
such  thing ;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish.  Now,  if 
believers  are  to  be  cleansed  and  made  without  blemish  by  the  word 
[which  testifies  of  the  all-atoning  blood,  and  the  love  of  the  Spirit] 
it  is  evident  that  they  are  to  be  sanctified  by  faith;  for  faith,  or  believ- 
ing, has  as  necessary  a  reference  to  the  word  as  eating  has  to  food. — 
For  the  same  reason  the  apostle  observes,  that  they  who  believe  enter 
into  rest ; — that  a  promise  being  given  us  to  enter  in,  we  should  take 
care  not  to  fall  short  of  it  through  unbelief; — that  we  ought  to  take 
warning  by  the  Israelites,  who  could  not  enter  into  the  land  of  promise 
through  unbelief: — that  we  nre  filled  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing  ; 
and  that  Christ  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  them  who  come  unto  God 
through  him :  now  coming,  in  the  Scripture  language,  is  another  ex- 
pression for  believing :  he  that  com^th  to  God  [says  the  apostle]  must 
believe.  Hence  it  appears,  thdt  faith  is  peculiarly  necessary  to  those 
who  will  be  saved  to  the  uttermost, — especially  a  firm  faith  in  the  capi- 
tal promi^^e  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  of  holi- 
ness from  the  Father,  through  the  Son.  For,  How  shall  they  call  on 
him  in  whom  they  have  not  believed?  Or,  How  can  they  earnestly 
plead  the  truth,  and  steadily  wait  for  the  performance  of  a  promise, 
in  which  they  have  no  faith? — This  doctrine  of  faith  is  supported  by 
Peter's  words  :  God,  who  knoweth  the  hearts  [of  penitent  believers] 
bare  them  witness,  giving  them  the  Holy  Ghost — and  purifying  their 
hearts  by  faith,  Acts  xv.  8,  9.  For  the  same  Spirit  of  faith,  whieh 
initially  purifies  our  hearts  when  we  cordially  believe  the  pardoning 
love  of  God,  completely  cleanses  them  when  we  fully  believe  his 
sanctifying  love. 

10.  This  direction  about  faith  being  of  the  utmost  importance,  I 
shall  confirm  and  explain  it  by  an  extract  from  Mr.  Wesley's  sermon, 
which  points  out  The  Scripture  Way  of  Salvation.  "  Though  it  be 
allowed  [says  this  judicious  divine]  that  both  this  repentance  and  its 
fruits  are  necessary  to  full  salvation,  yet  they  are  not  necessary  either 
in  the  same  sense  with  faith,  or  in  the  same  degree  ;  for  these  fruits 
are  only  necessary  conditionally,  if  there  be  time  and  opportunity  for 


TO    ANTINOMlANISSf.  353 

thern,  otherwise  a  man  may  be  sanctified  without  them.  But  he  can- 
not be  sanctified  without  faith.  Likewise  let  a  roan  have  ever  so 
much  of  this  repentance,  or  ever  so  many  good  works,  yet  all  this 
does  not  at  all  avail ;  he  is  not  sanctified  till  he  believe.  But  the 
moment  he  believes,  with  or  without  those  fruits,  yea,  with  more  or 
less  of  this  repentance,  he  is  sanctified. — Not  in  the  same  sense  ;  for 
this  repentaace  and  these  fruits  are  only  remotely  necessary,  neces- 
sary in  order  to  the  continuance  of  his  faith,  as  well  as  the  increase 
of  it ;  whereas  faith  is  immediately  and  directly  necessary  to  sanctifi- 
cation.  It  remains  that  faith  is  the  only  condition  which  is  imme- 
diately and  proximately  necessary  to  sanctitication. 

*'  But  what  is  that  faith  whereby  we  are  sanctified,  saved  from 
sin,  and  perfected  in  love?  It  is  a  divine  evidence  and  conviction,  1. 
That  God  hath  promised  it  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Till  we  arc 
thoroughly  satisfied  of  this,  there  is  no  moving  one  step  further.  And 
one  would  imagine  there  needed  not  one  word  more  to  satisfy  a 
reasonable  man  of  this,  than  the  ancient  promise,  Then  will  I  circum- 
cise thy  heart,  and  the  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul.  How  clearly  doth  this  express  the 
being  perfected  in  love  ?  How  strongly  imply  the  being  saved  from 
all  sin  ?  For  as  long  as  love  takes  up  the  whole  heart,  what  room  is 
there  for  sin  therein  ? — 2.  It  is  o  divine  evidence  and  conviction,  that 
what  God  has  promised  he  is  able  to  perform.  Admitting  therefore' 
that  with  men  it  is  impossible  to  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean, 
to  purify  the  heart  from  all  sin,  and  to  fill  it  with  all  holiness  :  yet 
this  creates  no  difficulty  in  the  case,  seeing  with  God  all  things  arc 
possible. — 3.  It  is  an  evidence  and  conviction,  that  he  is  able  and  wil- 
ling to  do  it  710W.  And  why  not?  Is  not  a  moment  to  him  the  ?ame  as 
a  thousand  years?  He  cannot  want  more  time  to  accomplish  whatever 
is  his  will.  We  may  therefore  boldly  say,  at  any  point  of  time,  JVow 
is  the  day  of  salvation !  Behold!  all  things  are  now  ready!  Come  to  the 
marriage! — 4.  To  this  confidence,  that  God  is  both  able  and  willing 
to  sanctify  us  now,  there  needs  to  be  added  one  thing  more,  a  divine 
evidence  and  conviction  that  he  doth  it.  In  that  hour  it  is  done.  God 
says  to  the  inmost  soul,  According  to  thy  faith,  be  it  unto  thee!  Then 
the  soul  is  pure  from  every  spot  of  sin  ;  it  is  clean  from  all  unrighte- 
ousness.^^ 

Those  who  have  low  ideas  of  faith,  will  probably  be  surprised  to 
see  how  much  Mr.  Wesley  ascribes  to  that  Christian  grace,  and  to 
inquire  why  he  so  nearly  connects  our  believing  that  God  cleanses  us 
from  all  sin,  with  God^s  actual  cleansing  us.  But  their  wonder  will 
cease,  if  they  consider  the  definition  which  this  divine  givos  of  faith. 

Vor.  IV.  4n 


354  THE  LAST  CHECK 

in  the  same  sermon.  "  Faith,  in  general  [says  he]  is  defined  by  the 
apostle,  an  evidence,  a  divine  evidence  and  conviction  [the  word  used 
by  the  apostle  means  both]  of  things  not  seen  :  not  visible,  nor  per- 
ceivable either  by  sight,  or  by  any  other  of  the  external  senses.  It 
implies  both  a  supernatural  evidence  of  God  and  of  the  things  of  God, 
a  kind  of  spiritual  light  exhibited  to  the  soul,  and  a  supernatural  sight, 
or  perception  thereof:  accordingly  the  Scriptures  speak  of  God's 
giving  sometimes  light,  sometimes  a  power  of  discerning  it  So  St. 
Paul,  God,  who  cojnmanded  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in 
our  hearts,  to  give  us  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God,  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  elsewhere  the  same  apostle  speaks  of 
the  eyes  of  our  understanding  being  opened.  By  this  twofold  operation 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  having  the  eyes  of  our  souls  both  opened  and 
enlightened,  we  see  the  things  which  the  natural  eye  hath  not  seen^ 
neither  the  ear  heard.  We  have  a  prospect  of  the  invisihle  things  of 
God  :  we  see  the  spiritual  world,  which  is  all  round  about  us,  and  yet 
is  no  more  discerned  by  our  natural  faculties,  than  if  it  had  no  being  ; 
and  we  see  the  eternal  world,  piercing  through  the  veil  which  hangs 
between  time  and  eternity.  Clouds  and  darkness  then  rest  upon  it 
no  more,  but  we  already  see  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed." 

From  this  striking  definition  of  faith  it  is  evident,  that  the  doctrine 
of  this  address  exactly  coincides  with  Mr.  Wesley^s  sermon  ;  with  this 
verbal  difference  only,  that  what  he  calls  faith,  implying  a  twofold 
operation  of  the  Spirit  proddctive  of  spiritual  lights  and  supernatural 
sight!  I  have  caWed faith  apprehending  a  sanctifying  baptism  [or  out- 
pouring] of  the  Spirit.  His  mode  of  expression  savours  more  of  the 
rational  divine,  who  logically  divides  the  truth,  in  order  to  render  its 
several  parts  conspicuous  :  and  I  keep  closer  to  the  words  of  the 
Scriptures,  which,  I  hope,  will  frighten  no  candid  Protestant.  1 
make  this  remark  for  the  sake  of  those  who  fancy,  that,  when  a  doc- 
trine is  clothed  with  expressions  which  are  not  quite  familiar  to  them, 
it  is  a  new  doctrine :  although  these  expressions  should  be  as  scriptural 
as  those  of  a  baptism,  or  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  which  are  used  by 
some  of  the  prophets,  by  John  the  Baptist,  by  the  four  evangelists, 
and  by  Christ  himself. 

I  have  already  pointed  out  the  close  connexion  there  is  between  an 
act  of  faith,  which  ftdly  apprehends  the  sanctifying  promise  of  the 
Father,  and  the  power  cf  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  which  makes  an  end 
of  moral  corruption,  by  forcing  the  lingering  man  of  sin  instanta- 
neously to  breathe  out  his  last.  Mr.  Wesley,  in  the  above-quoted  ser- 
mon, touches  upon  this  delicate  subject  in  so  clear  and  concise  a  man- 
ner, that  while  his  discourse  is  before  me,  for  the  sake  of  those  who 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  355 

.••  • 

have  it  not  at  hand,  I  shall  trawribe  the  whole  passage,  and  thus  put 
the  seal  of  that  eminent  di^e  to  what  I  have  advanced  in  the 
preceding  pages,  about  sanctifying  faith  and  the  quick  destruction  of 
sin. 

*'  Does  God  work  this  great  work  in  the  soul  gradually  or  inslanta- 
neously?  Perhaps  it  may.be  gradually  wrought  in  some:  1  mean  in 
this  sense  ;  they  do  not  advert  to  the  particular  moment  wherein 
sin  ceases  to  be.  But  it  is  infinitely  desirable,  were  it  the  will  of 
God,  that  it  should  be  done  instantaneously  ;  that  the  Lord  should 
destroy  sin  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye.  And  so  he  generally  does,  a  plain  fact,  of  which  there  is 
evidence  enough  to  satisfy  any  unprejudiced  person.  Thou  therefore 
look  for  it  every  moment.  Look  for  it  in  the  way  above  described  ; 
in  all  those  good  works,  whereunto  thou  art  created  anew  in  Christ 
Jesus.  There  is  then  no  danger:  you  can  be  no  worse,  if  you  are 
no  better  for  that  expectation.  For  were  you  to  be  disappointed  of 
your  hope,  still  you  lose  nothing.  But  you  shall  not  be  disappointed 
of  your  hope  :  it  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry.  Look  for  it  then 
every  day,  every  hour,  every  moment.  Why  not  this  hour,  this 
moment?  Certainly  you  may  look  for  it  now,  if  you  believe  it  is  by 
faith.  And  by  this  token  you  may  surely  know  whether  you  seek  it  by 
fcith  or  by  works.  If  by  works,  you  want  something  to  be  done  first, 
before  you  are  sanctified.  You  think,  '  I  must  first  be  or  do  thus  or 
thus.'  Then  you  are  seeking  it  by  works  unto  this  day.  If  you  seek 
it  by  faith,  you  expect  it  as  you  are  :  and  if  as  you  are,  then  expect 
it  now.  It  is  of  importance  to  observe  that  there  is  an  inseparable 
connexion  between  these  three  points,  expect  it  by  faith,  expect  it 
as  you  are,  and  expect  it  now  !  To  deny  one  of  them  is  to  deny  them 
all :  to  allow  one  is  to  allow  them  all.  Do  you  believe  we  are  sanc- 
tified by  faith  ?  Be  true  then  to  your  principle  ;  and  look  for  this 
blessing  just  as  you  are,  neither  better,  nor  worse ;  as  a  poor  sinner 
that  has  still  nothing  to  pay,  nothing  to  plead,  but  Clirist  died.  And  if 
you  look  for  it  as  you  are,  then  expect  it  now.  Stay  for  nothing: 
^hy  should  you  ?  Christ  is  ready  ;  and  he  is  all  you  want.  He  is 
waiting  for  you  :    he  is  at  the  door !  Let  your  inmost  soul  cry  out, 

*•  Come  in,  come  in,  thou  heavenly  guest ! 

Nor  hence  again  remove ; 
But  sup  with  me,  and  let  the  feast 

Be  everlasting  love." 

\\.  Social  prayer  is  closely  connected  with  faith,  in  the  capital 
promise  of  the  sanctifiying  Spirit :  and  therefore  I  earnestly  recom- 


v^b       ^  T£JE   LAST   CHECK 

mend  that  mean  ol  grace,  where  it  ean  be  had,  as  being  eminently 
conducive  to  the  attaining  of  Christian  perfection.  When  many 
beheving  hearts  are  lifted  up,  and  wrestle  with  God  in  prayer  toge- 
ther, you  may  compare  them  to  many  diligent  hands,  which  work  a 
large  machine.  At  such  times,  particularly,  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  are  broken  up,  the  windows  of  heaven  are  opened,  and 
rivers  of  living  water  flow  into  the  hearts  of  obedient  believers. 

"  In  Cliiistwhen  brethren  join, 

And  follow  after  peace, 
The  fellowship  divine 

He  promises  to  bless, 
His  chlefest  graces  to  bestow 
Where  two  or  three  are  met  below 

"  Where  unity  takes  place, 

The  joys  of  heaven  we  prove  ; 
This  is  the  Gospel  grace, 

The  unction  from  above, 
The  Spirit  on  all  believers  shed, 
Descending  swift  from  Christ  their  head." 

Accordingly  we  read,  that,  when  God  powerfully  opened  the  king- 
dom of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  disciples  were  all 
with  one  accord  in  one  place.  And  when  he  confirmed  that  kingdom, 
they  were  lifting  up  their  voices  to  God  with  one  accord.  See  Acts  ii. 
1.  and  iv.  24.  Thus  also  the  believers  at  Samaria  were  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Sanctifier,  while  Peter  and  John  prayed  with 
them,  and  laid  their  hands  upon  them. 

12.  But  perhaps  thou  art  alone.  As  a  solitary  bird  which  sitteth 
on  the  house  top,  thou  lookest  for  a  companion  who  may  go  with 
thee  through  the  deepest  travail  of  the  regeneration.  But  alas ! 
thou  lookest  in  vain  :  all  the  professors  about  thee  seem  satisfied  with 
their  former  experiences,  and  with  self-imputed  or  self-conceited 
perfection.  When  thou  givest  them  a  hint  of  thy  want  of  power  from 
on  high,  and  of  thy  hunger  and  thirst  after  a  fulness  of  righteousness, 
they  do  not  sympathize  with  thee.  And  indeed  how  can  they  ? 
They  are  full  already  ;  they  reign  without  thee  ;  they  have  need  of 
nothing.  They  do  not  sensibly  want  that  God  would  grant  them, 
according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory^  to  be  strengthened  with  might  in  the 
inner  many  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  their  hearts  by  faith,  that  they, 
being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  comprehend  with  all  saints 
[perfected  in  love]  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and 
height,  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowledge,  that  they 
might  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God,  Eph.  iii.  16,  kc.     Thej 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  357 

took  upon  thee  as  a  whimsical  person,  full  of  singular  notions,  and  they 
rather  damp,  than  enliven  thy  hopes.  Thy  circunastances  are  sad  ; 
but  do  not  give  place  to  despair,  no  not  for  a  moment.  In  the  name 
of  Christ,  who  could  not  get  even  Peter,  James,  and  John,  to  watch 
with  him  one  hour  ;  and  who  was  obliged  to  go  through  his  agony 
alone  ; — in  his  name,  I  say,  Cast  not  away  thy  confidence  which  has 
great  recompense  of  reward.  Under  all  thy  discouragements,  remem- 
ber that,  after  all,  divine  grace  is  not  confined  to  numbers,  any  more 
than  to  a  few.  When  all  outward  helps  fail  thee,  make  the  more  of 
Christ,  on  whom  sufficient  help  is  laid  for  thee, — Christ,  who  says,  I 
will  go  with  thee,  through  fire  and  water :  the  former  shall  not  burn 
thee,  nor  the  latter  drown  thee.  Jacob  was  alone  when  he  wrestled 
with  the  angel,  yet  he  prevailed  :  and  if  the  servant  is  not  above 
his  master,  wonder  mot  that  it  should  be  said  of  thee,  as  of  thy  Lord, 
when  he  went  through  his  greatest  temptations,  Of  the  people  there 
was  none  with  hi?7i. 

Should  thy  conflicts  be  with  confused  noise,  with  burning  and  fuel  of 
fire ;  should  thy  Jerusalem  be  rebuilt  in  troublous  times ;  should  the 
Lord  shake,  not  the  earth  only,  but  also  heaven ;  shoidd  deep  call  unto 
deep  at  the  tioise  of  his  water  spouts ;  should  all  his  waves  and  billows 
go  over  thee ;  should  thy  patience  be  tried  to  the  uttermost ;  remem- 
ber how  in  years  past  thou  hast  tried  the  patience  of  God,  nor  be 
discouraged  :  an  extremity,  and  a  storm,  are  often  God's  opportunity. 
A  blast  of  temptation,  and  a  shaking  of  all  thy  foundations,  may  intro- 
duce the  fulness  of  God  to  thy  soul,  and  answer  the  end  of  the  rush- 
ing wind,  and  of  the  shaking,  which  formerly  accompanied  the  first 
great  manifestations  of  the  Spirit.  The  Jews  still  expect  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah  in  the  flesh,  and  they  particularly  expect  it  in  a  storm. 
When  lightnings  flash,  when  thunders  roar,  when  a  strong  wind  shakes 
their  houses,  and  the  tempestuous  sky  seems  to  rush  down  in  thun 
der  showers  :  then  some  of  them  particularly  open  their  doors  and 
windows  to  entertain  their  wished  for  deliverer.  Do  spiritually,  what 
they  do  carnally.  Constantly  wait  for  full  power  from  on  high;  but 
especially  when  a  storm  of  affliction,  temptation,  or  distress,  over- 
takes thee ;  or  when  thy  convictions  and  desires  raise  thee  above 
thyself,  as  the  waters  of  the  flood  raised  Noah's  ark  above  the  earth  ; 
then  be  particularly  careful  to  throw  the  door  oi  faith,  and  the  win- 
dow of  hope  as  wide  open  as  thou  canst ;  and  spreading  the  arms  of 
thy  imperfect  love,  say  with  all  the  ardour  and  resignation  which 
thou  art  master  of, 

My  heart  strings  groan  with  deep  complaint, 
My  flesh  hes  panting,  Lord,  for  thee  ; 


358  THE   LAST   CHECK 

And  every  limb,  and  every  joint, 
Stretches  for  perfect  purity. 

But  if  the  Lord  be  pleased  to  come  softly  to  thy  help ;  if  he  make  an 
end  of  thy  corruptions  by  helping  thee  gently  to  sink  to  unknown 
depths  of  meekness  :  if  he  drown  the  indwelling  man  of  sin  by  bap- 
tizing, by  plunging  him  into  an  abyss  of  humility  ;  do  not  find  fault 
with  the  simplicity  of  his  method,  the  plainness  of  his  appearing,  and 
the  commonness  of  his  prescription.  Nature,  like  Naaman^  is  full  of 
prejudices.  She  expects  that  Christ  will  come  to  make  her  clean  with 
as  much  ado,  pomp,  and  bustle,  as  the  Syrian  general  looked  for, 
when  he  was  wrath  and  said,  Behold  I  thought  he  will  surely  come  out 

to  me and  stand and  call  on  his  God and  strike  his  hand 

over  the  place and  recover  the  leper.    Christ  frequently  goes  a  much 

plainer  way  to  work  :  and  by  this  mean  he  disconcerts  all  our  pre- 
conceived notions  and  schemes  of  deliverance.  '  Learn  of  me  to  be 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  thou  shah  find  rest  to  thy  soul, — the  sweet 
rest  of  Christian  perfection,  of  perfect  humility,  resignation  and 
meekness.  Lie  at  my  feet,  as  she  did  who  loved  much,  and  was 
meekly  taken  up  with  the  good  part,  and  the  one  thing  needful:''  But 
thou  frettest :  thou  despisest  this  robe  of  perfection  :  it  is  too  plain 
for  thee  :  thou  slightest  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which 
in  the  sight  of  God,  is. of  great  price  :  nothing  will  serve  thy  turn  but 
a  tawdry  coat  of  many  colours,  which  may  please  thy  proud  self-will, 
and  draw  the  attention  of  others,  by  its  glorious  and  flaming  appear- 
ance ;  and  it  must  be  brought  to  thee  with  lightnings,  thunderings,  and 
voices.  If  this  be  thy  disposition,  wonder  not  at  the  divine  wisdom, 
which  thinks  fit  to  disappoint  thy  lofty  prejudices  ;  and  let  me  address 
thee  as  JVaaman^s  servants  addressed  him  :  My  brother,  if  the  prophet 
had  bid  thee  do  some  great  thing,  wouldst  thou  not  have  done  it  ?  how 
much  rather  then,  when  he  says  to  thee,  '  /  am  the  meek  and  lowly  Lamb  of 
God :  wash  in  the  stream  of  my  blood — plunge  in  the  Jordan  of  my 
humility,  and  be  clean?'  Instead  therefore  of  going  away  from  a  plain 
Jesus  in  a  rage,  welcome  him  in  his  lowest  appearance,  and  be  per- 
suaded that  he  can  as  easily  make  an  end  of  thy  sin  by  gently  coming 
in  a  still,  small  voice,  as  by  rushing  in  upon  thee  in  a  storm,  afire,  or 
an  earthquake.  The  Jews  rejected  their  Saviour,  not  so  much  because 
they  did  not  earnestly  desire  his  coming,  as  because  he  did  not  come 
in  the  manner  in  which  they  expected  him.  It  is  probable  that  some 
of  this  Judaism  cleaves  to  thee.  If  thou  wilt  absolutely  come  to 
mount  Sion  in  a  triumphal  chariot,  or  make  thine  entrance  into  the 
new  Jerusalem  upon  a  prancing  horse,  thou  art  likely  never  to  come 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  359 

there.  Leave  then  all  thy  worldly  misconceptions  behind ;  and 
humbly  follow  thy  king,  who  makes  his  entry  into  the  topical  Jerusa- 
lem meek  and  lowly,  riding  upon  an  ass,  yea,  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an 
ass.  I  say  it  again  therefore,  whilst  thy  faith  and  hope  strongly  insist 
on  the  blessing;,  let  thy  resignation  and  patience  leave  to  God's  infinite 
goodness  and  wisdom  the  peculiar  manner  of  bestowing  it.  When  he 
says,  Surely  I  come  quickly  to  make  my  abode  m'ilh  thee,  let  thy  faith 
close  in  with  his  word  :  ardently  and  yet  meekly  embrace  his  promise. 
This  will  instantly  beget  power;  and  with  that  power  thou  mayest 
instantly  bring  forth  prayer,  and  possibly  the  prayer  which  opens 
heaven,  which  humbly  wrestles  with  God,  inherits  th^*  blessing,  and 
turns  the  well  known  petition.  Amen,  Even  so.  Come  Ltrd  Jesus!  into 
the  well  known  praises.  He  is  come,  He  is  come,  O  praise  the  Lords  0 
my  soul,  (I'C.— Thus  repent,  believe,  and  obey  ;  and  he  that  cometh  will 
come  with  a  fulness  of  pure,  meek,  humble  love  ;  he  rvill  not  tarry  ;  or 
if  he  tarry,  it  will  be  to  give  thy  faith  and  desires  more  time  to  open» 
that  thou  raayest,  at  his  appearing,  be  able  to  take  in  more  of  his  per- 
fecting grace  and  sanctifying  power:  besides,  thy  expectation  of  his 
coming,  is  of  a  purifying  nature,  and  gradually  sanctifies  thee.  He 
that  has  this  hope  in  him,  by  this  very  hope  purifies  himself  even  as 
God  is  pure  :  for  we  are  saved  [into  perfect  love]  by  hope,  as  well  as 
by  faith.  The  stalk,  as  well  as  the  root,  bears  the  full  corn  in  the  ear. 
Up  then,  thou  sincere  expectant  of  God's  kingdom!  Let  thy  hum- 
ble, ardent  free  will  meet  prevenient,  sanctifying  free  grace  in  its 
weakest  and  darkest  appearance,  as  the  father  of  the  faithful  met  the 
Lord,  when  he  appeared  to  him  on  the  plain  of  Mamre  as  a  mere  mortal. 
Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and  lo,  three  men  stood  by  him: 
so  does  free  grace  [if  I  may  venture  upon  the  allusion]  invite  itself 
to  thy  tent:  nay,  it  is  now  with  thee  in  its  creating,  redeeming,  and 
sanctifying  influences.  And  when  he  saw  them,  he  ran  to  meet  them  from 
the  tent  door,  and  bowed  himself  towards  the  ground.  Go  and  do  like- 
wise :  if  thou  seest  any  beauty  in  the  humbling  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  in  the  sanctifying  love  of  God,  and  in  the  comtbrtable 
fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  let  thy  free  will  run  to  meet  them,  and 
bow  itself  towards  the  ground.  O  for  a  speedy  going  out  of  thy  tent 
— thy  sinful  self?  0  for  a  race  of  desire  in  the  way  of  faith  !  O  for 
incessant  prostrations !  O  for  a  meek  and  deep  bowing  of  thyself 
before  thy  divine  Deliverer  ! — And  Abraham  said,  my  Lord,  if  now  1 
have  found  favour  in  thy  sight,  pass  not  away,  I  pray  thee,  from  thy  ser- 
vant.— O  for  the  humble  pressing  of  a  loving  faith!  O  for  the  faith 
which  stopt  the  sun,  when  God  avenged  his  people  in  the  days  of 


360  THE    LAST   CHECK 

Joshua ;  O  for  the  importunate  faith  of  the  two  disciples,  who 
detained  Christ,  when  he  made  as  though  he  would  have  gone  farther  ! 
They  constrained  him  sajing,  abide  with  us,  for  it  is  towards  evenings 
and  the  day  is  far  spent.  And  he  went  in  to  tarry  with  them. — He  soon 
indeed  vanished  out  of  their  hodily  sight,  because  they  were  not 
called  always  to  enjoy  his  bodily  presence.  Far  from  promising  them 
that  blessing,  he  had  said,  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away ;  for  if 
I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you  ;  but  if  I  depart,  I 
will  send  him  unto  you — that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever. — He  dwell- 
eth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.  This  promise  is  yea  and  amen  in 
Christ ;  only  plead  it  according  to  the  preceding  directions,  and  as 
sure  as  our  Lord  is  the  true  and  faithful  witness,  so  sure  will  the  God 
of  hojpe  and  love  soon  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace^  that  ye  may 
abound  in  pure  love  as  well  as  in  confirmed  hope  through  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Then  shall  you  have  an  indisputable  right  to  join 
the  believers  who  sing  at  the  Tabernacle,  and  at  the  Lock  Chapel,  in 
the  words  of  Messrs.  J.  and  C.  Wesley. 

"  Many  are  we  now,  and  one, 

We  who  Jesus  have  put  on. 
There  is  neither  bond  nor  free, 

Male  nor  female,  Lord,  in  thee. 
Love,  like  death,  hath  all  destroyed, 

Rendered  all  distinctions  void  : 
Names,  and  sects,  and  parties,  fall ; 

Thou,  0  Christ,  art  all  in  all." 

in  the  mean  time  you  may  sing  with  the  pious  Countess  oi Hunting- 
don— the  Rev.  Mr.  Madan — the  Rev.  Dr.  Conyers — the  Rev.  Mr. 
Berridge — Richard  Hill,  Esq. ;  and  the  Imperfectionists,  who  use  their 
collections  of  hymns ; — ye  may  sing,  I  say,  with  them  all,  the  two 
following  hymns  which  they  have  agreed  to  borrow  from  the  hymns^ 
of  Messrs.  J.  and  C.  Wesley,  after  making  some  insignificant  alter- 
ations. I  transcribe  them  from  the  collection  used  in  Lady  Hunting 
don's  chapels,  Bristol  edition,  1765,  page  239,  &;c 

O  for  a  heart  to  praise  my  God ! 

A  heart  from  sin  set  free ; 
A  heart  that's  sprinkled  with  the  blood 

So  freely  spilt  for  me. 

A  heart  resigned,  submissive,  meek. 

My  dear  Redeemer's  throne, 
Where  only  Christ  is  heard  to  spealr. 

^/VhPTf^  .Te?ns  reig:ns  alop" 


TO    ANTINOMlANlSMo  361 

A  humble,  lowly,  contrite  heart, 

Believing,  true,  and  clean. 
Which  neither  life  nor  death  can  part 
From  Him  that  dwells  within. 

A  heart  in  every  thought  renewed, 

And  filled  with  love  divine ; 
Perfect,  and  right,  and  pure,  and  good, 

A  copy.  Lord,  of  thine. 

My  heart,  thou  know'st,  can  never  f*»f^ 

Tilk  thou  create  my  peace  : 
Till  of  mine  Eden  re-possest, 

From  self  and  sin  I  cease. 

Thy  nature,  gracious  Lord,  impart, 

Come  quickly  from  above  ; 
Write  thy  new  name  upon  my  heart, 

Thy  new,  best  name  of  love. 

Here  is  undoubtedly  an  evangelical  prayer  for  the  love  which 
restores  the  soul  to  a  state  of  sinless  rest,  and  evangelical  perfection. 
Mean  ye,  my  brethren,  what  the  good  people  who  dissent  from  us 
print  and  sing,  and  I  ask  no  more.  Nor  can  ye  wait  for  an  answer  to 
the  prayer  contained  in  the  preceding  hymn  in  a  more  scriptural 
manner,  than  by  pleading  the  promise  of  the  Father  in  such  words  a? 
these :  ^       . 


Love  divine,  all  loves  excelling, 

Joy  of  heaven  to  earth  come  down  ! 
Fix  in  us  thine  humble  dwelling, 

All  thy  faithful  mercies  crown  ; 
Jesus,  thou  art  all  compassion, 

Pure,  unbounded  love  thou  art  \ 
Visit  us  with  thy  salvation, 

Enter  every  trembling  heart ! 

Breathe,  O  breathe  thy  loving  spiri' 

Into  every  troubled  breast  I 
Let  us  all  in  t+iee  inherit, 

Let  us  find  thy*  promised  rest. 
Take  away  the  f  power  of  sinning. 

Alpha  and  Omega  be  : 
End  of  faith  as  its  beginning, 

Set  our  hearts  at  liberty. 

*  Mr.  Wesley  says,  second  rest,  because  an  imperfect  believer  enjoys  a  tirst  inferior 
rest  :  if  he  did  not  he  would  be  no  believer. 

t  Is  not  this  expi*ession  too  strong  .-'  Would  it  not  be  better  to  soften  it  as  Mr.  ]lill  ha« 
done,  by  saying,  "  Take  away  the  love  of"  [or  the  bent  to]  "  sinning?"  Can  God  take 
away  from  us  our  power  of  sinning,  without  taking  away  our  power  of  free  obedif^nrf  - 

Vol.  IV.  46 


S6'2  TflE   LAST   CllECiS 

Come  !  almighty  to  deliver, 

Let  us  all  thy  life  receive  ! 
Suddenly  return,  and  never, 

Never  more  thy  temples  leave  : 
Thee  we  would  be  always  blessing^, 

Serve  thee  as  thine  hosts  above ; 
Pray  and  praise  thee  without  ceasing.. 

Glory  in  thy  precious*  love. 

Finish  then  thy  new  creation, 

Pure,  f  unspotted  may  we  be  ; 
Let  us  see  thy  great  salvation, 

Perfectly  restor'd  by  thee  ; 
Chang'd  from  glory  into  glory. 

Till  in  heaven  we  take  our  place  ; 
Till  we  cast  our  crowns  before  thee. 

Lost  in  wonder,  love,  and  praise. 

Lift  up  your  hands  which  hang  down  ;  our  Aaron,  our  heavenly 
High  Priest,  is  near  to  hold  them  up.  The  spiritual  Ainalekites  will 
not  always  prevail ;  our  Samuel,  our  heavenly  Prophet,  is  ready  to 
cut  them  and  their  king  in  pieces  before  the  Lord.  The  promise  is  unto 
you.  You  are  surely  called  to  attain  the  perfection  of  your  dispen- 
sation, although  you  seem  still  afar  off.  Christ,  in  whom  that  perfec- 
tion centres — Christ,  from  whom  it  flows,  is  very  near,  even  at  the 
door ;  Beholdy  says  he,  [and  this  he  spake  to  Laodicean  loiterers]  I 
stand  at  the  door  and  knock.  If  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open,  I 
xvill  come  in  and  sup  with  him,  upon  the  fruits  of  my  grace,  in  their 
Christian  perfection  :  and  he  shall  sup  with  me  upon  the  fruits  of  «)y 
glory,  in  their  angelical  and  heavenly  maturity. 


■*  Mr.  Wesley  s?Lys perfect  love,  vC'ith  St.  John. 

f  Mr.  Wesley  says  indeed  pure  and  sinless  ;  but  when  Mr.  Hill  sings  pure  unspotted,  he 
does  not  spoil  the  sense.  For  every  body  knows  that  the  pure,  unspotted  Jesus,  does  not 
differ  from  the  sinless,  immaculate  Lamb  of  God  This  fine  hymn  (I  think)  is  not  in  Mr. 
Madan's  collection,  but  he  has  probably  sung  it  more  than  once.  However,  it  is  adopted 
m  the  Shrewsbury  Collection,  of  which  Mr.  Hill  is  the  publisher  in  conjunction  with' Mr- 
De  Courcy.  Is  it  not  suprising,  that  in  his  devotional  warmth  that  gentleman  should  print, 
give  out,  and  sing,  Mr.  Wesley^s  strongest  hymns  for  Christian  perfection ;  when,  in  his 
controversial  heat,  he  writes  so  severely  against  this  blessed  state  of  heart?  And  may  not 
I  take  my  leave  of  him  by  an  allusion  to  our  Lord's  words,  Out  of  tny  own  mouth — thy  own 
pen — thy  own  publications — thy  own  hymns — thy  own  prayers — thy  own  Bible— thy  own 
reason — thy  own  conscience — and  (what  is  most  astonishing)  thy  own  profession  and  bap- 
tismal vow,  I  will  judge  thy  mistakes  !  Nevertheless,  I  desire  the  reader  to  impute  them,  a« 
I  do,  not  to  any  love  for  indwelling  sin,  but  to  the  fatal  error  which  makes  my  pious  oppo- 
nent turn  his  back  upon  the  genuine  doctrines  of  grace  and  justice,  and  espouse  the  spu 
rtous  doctrines  of  Calvinian  grace,  and  free  wrath. 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  363 

Hear  this  encouraging  Gospel, — Ask,  and  you  shall  have  ;  seek,  and 
you  shall  find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  For  every  one 
that  askeih,  receiveth  :  and  he  that  seeketh,  findeth :  and  to  him  that 
knocketh,  it  shall  be  opened.  If  any  of  you  [believers]  lack  u^isdom — 
indzvelling  wisdom,  [Christ,  the  wisdom  and  the  power  of  God  dwell- 
ing in  his  heart  by  faith]  let  him  ask  of  God,  who  givelhto  all  men,  and 
vpbraideth  not — and  it  shall  be  given  him.  But  let  him  ask  [as  a  be- 
liever,] in  faith,  nothing  wavering;  for  he  that  wavereth  is  like  a  wave 
of  the  sea,  driven  with  the  wind  and  tossed  :  for  let  not  that  man  think 
that  he  shall  receive  the  thing  which  he  thus  asketh.  But  whatsoever 
things  ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and  ye  shall 
have  them.  For,  all  things  [commanded  and  promised]  are  possible  to 
him  that  believeth.  He  who  has  commanded  us  to  be  perfect  in  love, 
as  our  heavenly  Father  is  perfect,  and  he  who  has  promised  speedily  to 
avenge  his  elect,  who  cry  to  him  night  and  day: — He  will  speedily 
avenge  you  of  your  grand  adversary,  indwelling  sin.  He  will  say  to 
you — According  to  thy  faith,  be  it  done  unto  thee  ;  for  he  is  able  to  do  far 
exceedingly  abundantly,  far  above  all  that  we  can  ask  or  think ;  and  of 
his  fulness  we  may  all  receive  grace  for  grace — we  may  all  witness  the 
gracious  fulfilment  of  all  the  promises  which  he  has  graciously  made, 
that  by  them  we  might  be  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature,  so  far  as  it 
can  be  communicated  to  mortals  in  this  world.  You  see  that,  with 
men,  what  you  look  for  is  impossible  :  but  you  show  yourselves  be- 
lievers :  take  God  into  the  account,  and  you  will  soon  experience, 
that  with  God  all  things  are  possible.  Nor  forget  the  Omnipotent  Ad- 
vocate whom  you  have  with  him.  Behold  !  he  lifts  his  once-pierced 
hands,  and  says,  Father,  sanctify  them  through  [thy  loving]  truth — that 
they  jnay  be  perfected  in  love  :  and  showing  to  you  the  fountain  of  aton- 
ing blood,  and  purifying  water,  whence  flow  the  streams  which  cleanse 
and  gladden  the  hearts  of  believers,  he  says,  "  Hitherto  ye  have  asked 
nothing  in  my  name — Whatsoever  you  shall  ask  the  Father  in  my  name, 
he  will  give  it  you.  Ask  then  that  your  joy  may  be  full.  If  I  try  your 
faith  by  a  little  delay  ;  if  I  hide  my  face  for  a  moment,  it  is  only  to 
gather  you  with  everlasting  kindness.- — A  woman  when  she  is  in  tra- 
vail  hath  sorrow,  because  her  hour  is  come  :  but  as  soon  as  she  is  delivered 
of  the  child,  she  remembereth  no  more  the  anguish  for  joy.  Now  ye. 
have  sorrow — but  I  will  see  you  again,  and  your  heart  shall  rejoice,  and 
your  joy  no  man  takethfrom  you.  In  that  day  ye  shall  ask  me  no  ques- 
tion, for  you  shall  not  have  my  bodily  presence.— But  my  Urim  and 
Thummim  will  be  with  you  ;  and  the  Spirit  of  truth  will  himself  lead 
you  into  all  [Christian]  truth.''^ 


364  THE  LAST  CHECK  .   . 

O  for  a  firm  and  lasting  faith. 
To  credit  all  the  Almighty  saith, 
To  embrace  the  promise  of  his  Son, 
And  feel  the  Comforter  our  own ! 

In  the  mean  time  be  not  afraid  to  gi?e  glory  to  God  by  believing  in 
hope  againstihope.  Stagger  not  at  the  promise  [of  the  Father  and  the 
Son]  through  unbelief:  but  trust  the  power  and  faithfulness  of  your 
Creator  and  Redeemer,  till  your  Sanctijier  has  fixed  his  abode  in  your 
heart.  Wait  at  Mercy's  door,  as  the  lame  beggar  did  at  the  beautiful 
gate  of  the  temple.  Peter,  fastening  his  eyes  upon  him,  with  John,  saidy 
Look  on  us :  and  he  gave  heed  to  them,  expecting  to  receive  something  of 
them.  Do  so  too  :  give  heed  to  the  Father  in  the  Son,  who  says, 
Look  unto  me,  and  he  ye  saved.  Expect  to  receive  the  one  thing  now 
needful  for  you,  a  fulness  of  the  sanctifying  Spirit.  And  though  your 
patience  may  be  tried,  it  shall  not  be  disappointed.  The  faith  and 
power,  which  at  Peter's  word,  gave  the  poor  cripple  a  perfect  sound- 
ness in  the  presence  of  all  the  wondering  Jews,  will  give  you,  at 
Christ's  word,  a  perfect  soundness  of  heart  in  the  presence  of  all 
your  adversaries. 

"  Faith — mighty  faith,  the  promise  sees, 
And  looks  to  that  alone, 
Laughs  at  impossibilities, 

And  cries — "  It  shall  be  doije !" 

"  Faith  asks  impossibilities ; 
Impossibilites  are  given ; 
And  I — e'en  I,  from  sin  shall  cease, 
Shall  live  on  earth  the  life  of  heaven." 

Faith  always  works  by  love — by  love  of  desire  at  least ;  making  us 
ardently  pray  for  what  we  believe  to  be  eminently  desirable.  And 
if  Christian  perfection  appears  so  to  you,  you  might  perhaps  express 
your  earnest  desire  of  it  in  some  such  words  as  these — "  How  long, 
Lord,  shall  my  soul — thy  spiritual  temple,  be  a  den  of  thieves,  or  a 
house  of  merchandise  ? — How  long  shall  vain  thoughts  profane  it,  as 
the  buyers  and  sellers  profaned  thy  temple  made  with  human  hands  ? 
How  long  shall  evil  tempers  lodge  within  me  ?  How  long  shall  unbe- 
lief, formality,  hypocrisy,  envy,  hankering  after  sensual  pleasure, 
indifference  to  spiritual  delights,  and  backwardness  to  painful  or 
ignominious  duty,  harbour  there  ?  How  long  shall  these  sheep  and 
doves,  yea,  these  goats  and  serpents,  defile  my  breast,  which  should  be 
pure  as  the  Holy  of  Holies? — How  long  shall  they  hinder  me  from 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  365 

being  one  of  the  worshippers  whom  thou  seekest — one  of  those  who 
Worship  thee  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ?  O  help  me  to  take  away  these 
cages  of  unclean  birds.  Suddenly  come  to  thy  temple.  Turn  out  all 
that  offends  the  eyes  of  thy  purity ;  and  destroy  all  that  keep?  rae 
out  o{  the  rest  which  remains  for  thy  Christian  people  :  so  shall  I  keep 
a  spiritual  Sabbath — a  Christian  Jubilee  to  the  God  of  my  life  :  so 
shall  I  witness  my  share  in  the  oil  of  joy  with  which  thou  anointest 
perfect  Christians  above  their  fellow-believers.— I  stand  in  need  of 
that  oil,  Lord  :  my  lamp  burns  dim  :  sometimes  it  seems  to  be  even 
gone  out,  as  that  of  the  foolish  virgins  ;  it  is  more  like  a  smoking  flax, 
than  a  burning  and  shining  light.  O  !  quench  it  not :  raise  it  to  a 
flame.  Thou  knowest  that  I  do  believe  in  thee.  The  trembling 
hand  of  my  faith  holds  thee  ;  and  though  1  have  ten  thousand  times 
grieved  thy  pardoning  love,  thine  everlasting  arm  is  still  under  me, 
to  redeem  my  life  from  destruction  ;  while  thy  right  hand  is  over  me, 
to  crown  me  with  mercies  and  loving  kindness.  But,  alas  !  I  am 
neither  sufficiently  thankful  for  thy  present  mercies,  nor  sufficiently 
athirst  for  thy  future  favours.  Hence  I  feel  an  aching  void  in  my 
soul,  being  conscious  that  I  have  not  attained  the  heights  of  grace 
described  in  thy  word,  and  enjoyed  by  thy  holiest  servants.  Their 
deep  experiences,  the  diligence  and  ardour  with  which  they  did  thy 
will  ;  the  patience  and  fortitude  with  which  they  endured  the  cross, 
reproach  me,  and  convince  me  of  my  manifold  wants.  I  want  power 
from  on  high  ; — I  want  the  penetrating  lasting  unction  of  the  Holy  One  : 
I  want  to  have  my  vessel  [my  capacious  heart]  full  of  oil,  which  makes 
the  countenance  of  wise  virgins  cheerful.  I  want  a  lamp  of  heavenly 
illumination,  and  a  fire  of  divine  love  burning  day  and  night  in  my 
breast,  as  the  typical  lamps  did  in  the  temple,  and  the  sacred  fire  on 
the  altar ; — I  want  a  full  application  of  the  blood  which  cleanses 
from  all  sin,  and  a  strong  faith  in  thy  sanctifying  word — a  faith  by 
which  thou  mayest  dwell  in  my  heart,  as  the  unwavering  hope  of 
glory,  and  the  fixed  object  of  my  love.  I  want  the  internal  Oracle^ — 
thy  still,  small  voice,  together  with  Urim  and  Thuuimim* — the  new 
name  which  none  knoweth  but  he  that  receiveth  it.  In  a  word,-  Lord,  I  want 
a  plenitude  of  thy  Spirit,  the  full  promise  of  the  Father,  and  the  river«« 
which  flow  from  the  inmost  souls  of  the  belivers,  who  have  gone  on 
to  the  perfection  of  their  dispensation.  I  do  believe  that  thou  canst  and 
wilt  thus  baptize  me  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire :  help  my  unbe 
lief;  confirm  and  increase  my  faith,  with  regard  to  this  iraportanl 
baptism.  Lord,  I  have  need  to  be  thus  baptized  of  thee,  and  I  am 
ptraitened  till  this  baptism  is  accomplished.     By  thy  baptisms  of  tears 

*  T\vt«  Hebrew  words  which  mean  lights  and  perfections. 


366  THE    LAST    CHECK 

in  the  manger — of  water  in  Jordan— of  sweat  in  Gethsemanc — ot 
blood  and  fire,  and  vapour  of  smoke,  and  flaming  wrath  on  Calvary, 
baptize — O,  baptize  my  soul,  and  make  as  full  an  end  of  the  original 
sin  which  I  have  from  Adam,  as  thy  last  baptism  made  of  the  likeness 
of  sinful  flesh  which  thou  hadst  from  a  daughter  of  Eve.  Some  of 
thy  people  look  at  death  for  full  salvation  from  sin  ;  but,  at  thy  com- 
mand, Lord,  I  look  unto  thee.  Say  to  my  soul,  I  am  thy  salvation: 
and  let  me  feel  with  my  heart,  as  well  as  see  wilh  my  understand- 
ing, that  thou  canst  save  from  sin  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come  to  God 
through  thee.  I  am  tired  of  forms,  professions,  and  orthodox  notions  : 
so  far  as  they  are  not  pipes  or  channels  to  convey  life,  light,  and  love 
to  my  dead,  dark,  and  stony  heart.  Neither  the  plain  letter  of  thy 
Gospel,  nor  the  sweet  foretastes  and  transient  illuminations  of  thy 
Spirit,  can  satisfy  the  large  desires  of  my  faith.  Give  me  thine 
abiding  Spirit,  that  he  may  continually  shed  abroad  thy  love  in  my 
soul.  Come,  O  Lord,  with  that  blessed  Spirit : — Come  Thou,  and 
thy  Father,  in  that  holy  Comforter — Come  to  make  your  abode  with 
me  ;  or  I  shall  go  meekly  mourning  to  my  grave. — Blessed  mourning  I 
Lord  increase  it.  I  had  rather  ivait  in  tears  for  thy  fulness,  than  wan- 
tonly waste  the  fragments  of  thy  spiritual  bounties,  or  feed  with  Lao- 
dicean contentment  upon  the  tainted  manna  of  my  former  experiences. 
Righteous  Father,  /  hunger  and  thirst  after  thy  righteousness :  send 
thy  holy  Spirit  of  promise  to  fill  me  therewith,  to  sanctify  me  through- 
out, and  to  seal  me  centrally  to  the  day  of  eternal  redemption,  and 
finished  salvation.  Not  for  works  of  righteousness  which  I  have  done, 
hut  of  thy  mercy,  for  Christ's  sake,  save  thou  me  by  the  complete  wash- 
ing of  regeneration,  and  the  full  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  in 
order  to  this,  pour  out  of  thy  Spirit ;  shed  it  abundantly  on  me,  till 
the  fountain  of  living  water  abundantly  spring  up  in  my  soul,  and  I 
can  say,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  words,  that  thou  livest  in  me,  that  my 
life  is  hid  with  thee  in  God,  and  that  my  spirit  is  returned  to  him  that 
gave  it — To  thee.  The  First  and  the  Last — my  Author  and  my  End-~ 
mj  God  and  my  All !" 


SECTION  XX. 

An  Address  io  perfect  Christians. 

Ye  have  not  sung  the  preceding  hymns  in  vain,  O  ye  men  of  God, 
who  have  mixed  faith  with  your  evangelical  requests.  The  God  who 
says,  open  thy  mouth  wide,  and  I  zm II fill  it. — The  gracious  God  who 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  367 

declares,  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall 
he  filled  : — that  faithful,  covenant-keeping  God,  has  now  filled  you  with 
all  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  believing.  The  brightness  of  Christ's 
appearing  has  destroyed  the  indwelling  man  of  sin.  He  who  had 
slain  the  Hon  and  the  bear  [he  who  had  already  done  so  great  things 
for  you]  has  now  croweed  all  his  blessings  by  slaying  the  Goliath 
within.  Aspiring,  unbeiieving  self,  is  fallen  before  the  victorious  Son 
of  David.  The  quick  and  powerful  word  of  God,  which  is  sharper  than 
any  two-edged  sword,  has  pierced  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  ef  soul 
and  spirit.  The  carnal  mind  is  cut  oflf :  the  circumcision  of  the  heart, 
through  the  Spirit,  has  fully  taken  place  in  your  breasts  ;  and  now  that 
mind  is  in  you  which  was  also f  71  Christ  Jesus — ye  are  spiritually  minded : 
loving  God  with  all  your  heart,  and  your  neighbour  as  yourselves,  ye 
^re  full  of  goodness,  ye  keep  the  commandments,  ye  observe  the  law  of 
liberty,  ye  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ.  Of  him  ye  have  learned  to  be 
m,eek  and  lowly  in  heart.  Ye  have  fully  taken  his  yoke  upon  you ;  in 
so  doing  ye  have  found  a  sweet,  abiding  rest  unto  your  souls  ;  and 
from  blessed  experience  ye  can  say,  "  Christ's  yoke  is  easy,  and  his 
burden  is  light.  His  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  his  paths 
are  peace.  All  the  paths  of  the  Lord  are  mercy  and  truth,  unto  such  as 
keep  his  covenant,  and  his  testimonies.  The  beatitudes  are  sensibly 
yours  :  and  the  charity  described  by  St.  Paul  has  the  same  place  in 
your  breasts,  which  the  tables  of  the  law  had  in  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant. Ye  are  the  living  temples  of  the  Trinity  :  the  Father  is  your 
life  ;  the  Son  your  light ;  the  Spirit  your  love  ;  ye  are  truly  baptized 
into  the  mystery  of  God  ;  ye  continue  to  drink  into  one  spirit,  and  thus 
ye  enjoy  the  grace  of  both  sacraments.  There  is  an  end  of  your  Lo 
here !  and  Lo  there  ;  the  kingdom  of  God  is  now  established  within 
you.  Christ's  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy,  are  rooted  in  your  breasts 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  given  unto  you,  as  an  abiding  guide  and  indwelling 
Comforter.  Your  introverted  eye  of  faith  looks  at  God,  who  gently 
guides  you  with  his  eye  into  all  the  troth  necessary  to  make  you  do 
justice,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  your  God.  Simplicity  of 
intention  keeps  darkness  out  of  your  mind,  and  purity  of  affection 
keeps  wrong  fires  out  of  your  breast.  By  the  former  ye  are  without 
guile,  by  the  latter  ye  are  without  envy.  Your  passive  will  instantly 
melts  into  the  will  of  God  ;  and  on  all  occasions  you  meekly  say,  Not 
my  will,  0  Father,  but  thine  be  done :  thus  ye  are  always  ready  to  suf- 
fer  what  you  are  called  to  suffer.  Your  active  will  evermore  says, 
Speak,  Lord;  thy  servant  heareth  :  what  wouldst  thou  have  me  to  do  ? 
It  is  my  meat  and  drink  to  do  the  will  of  my  heavenly  Father;  thus  are 


368  tllE   LAST   CHECK 

ye  always  ready  to  do  whatsover  ye  are  convinced  that  God  calls  yot4 
to  do  ;  and  whatsoever  ye  do,  whether  ye  eat,  or  drink,  or  do  any  thing 
else,  ye  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  th-e  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ:  rejoicing  evermore;  praying  without  ceasing — in  every  thing 
giving  thanks :  solemnly  looking  for,  and  hasting  unto  the  hour  of  your 
dissolution,  and  the  day  of  God,  wherein  the  heavens  being  on  fire,  shall 
he  dissolved,  and  your  soul,  being  clothed  with  a  celestial  body,  shall 
be  able  to  do  celestial  services  to  the  God  of  your  life. 

In  this  blessed  state  of  Christian  perfection,  the  holy  anointing 
which  ye  have  received  of  him,  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  need  not  that  any 
man  teach  you,  unless  it  be  as  the  same  anointing  teacheth.  Agreeably 
therefore,  to  that  anointing,  which  teaches  by  a  variety  of  means, 
which  formerly  taught  a  prophet  by  an  ass,  and  daily  instructs  God's 
children  by  the  ant,  I  shall  venture  to  set  before  you  some  important 
directions,  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  already  suggested  to  your  pure 
minds  ;  for  I  would  not  be  negligent  to  put  you  in  remembrance  of  these 
things,  though  ye  know  them,  and  be  established  in  the  present  truth. 
Yea,  I  think  it  meet  to  stir  you  up,  by  putting  you  in  remembrance,  and 
giving  you  some  hints,  which  it  is  safe  for  you  frequently  to  meditate 
upon. 

I.  Adam,  ye  know,  lost  his  human  perfection  in  Paradise  ;  Satan 
lost  his  aw^eZic  perfection  in  heaven;  the  devil  thrust  sore  at  Christ  in 
the  wilderness,  to  throw  him  down  from  his  mediatorial  perfection  : 
and  St.  Paul,  in  the  same  Epistles  where  he  professes  not  only  Chris- 
tian, but  a/?os^oZtc  perfection  also  [Phil.  iii.  15.  1  Cor.  ii.  6.  2  Cor. 
xii.  11.]  informs  us,  that  he  continued  to  run  for  the  crown  of  heavenly 
perfection,  like  a  man,  who  might  not  only  lose  his  crown  of  Christian 
perfection,  but  become  a  reprobate,  and  be  cast  away,  1  Cor.  ix.  25, 
27.  And  therefore,  so  run  ye  also,  that  no  man  take  your  crown  of 
Christian  perfection  in  this  world,  and  that  ye  may  obtain  your  crown 
of  angelic  perfection  in  the  world  to  come.  Still  keep  your  body 
under.  Still  guard  your  senses.  Still  watch  your  own  heart,  and 
steadfast  in  the  faith,  still  resist. the  devil  that  he  may  flee  from  you  ; 
remembering  that  if  Christ  himself,  as  son  of  man,  had  conferred  with 
flesh  and  blood,  refused  to  deny  himself,  and  avoided  taking  up  his 
cross,  he  had  lost  his  perfection,  and  sealed  up  our  original  apostacy. 

*'  We  do  not  And,"  [says  Mr.  Wesley,  in  his  Plain  Account  of  Chris- 
tian Perfeciion]  "  any  general  state  described  in  Scripture,  from  which 
a  man  cannoi  draw  back  to  sin.  If  there  were  any  state  wherein 
thii^  i^  i-npjsslble,  it  would  be  that  of  those  who  are  sanctified,  who 
are  Fathers  in  Christ,  who  rejoice  evermore,  pray  without  ceasing,  and 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  369 

in  every  thing  give  thanks.  But  it  is  not  impossible  for  these  to  draw 
back.  They  who  .jre  sanctified  may  yet  fall  and  perish,  Heb.  x.  29. 
E^ren  fathers  in  Christ  need  that  warning,  Love  not  the  nnrld,  1  John 
ii.  15.  They  who  rc;o?ce,  pray,  and  give  thanks  Ziithout  ceasing^  may 
nevertheless  quench  the  Spirit,  1  Thess.  v.  16.  &.c.  Nay,  even  they 
who  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption,  may  yet  grieve  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God,  Eph.  V.  30."* 

The  doctrine  of  the  Absolute  Perseverance  of  the  Saints,  is  the  first 
card  which  the  devil  played  against  man  :  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die,  if 
ye  break  the  law  of  your  perfection."  This  fatal  card  won  the 
game.  Mankind  and  Paradise  vvere  lost.  The  artful  serpent  had  too 
well  succeeded  at  his  first  game,  to  forget  that  lucky  card  at  his 
second.  See  him  transfonning  himself  into  an  angel  of  light  on  the 
pinnacle  of  the  temple.  There  he  plays  over  again  his  old  game 
against  the  Son  of  God.  Out  of  the  Bible  he  pulls  the  very  card 
which  won  our  first  parents,  and  swept  the  stake — Paradise — yea, 
swept  it  with  the  besom  of  destruction — Cast  thyself  doncn,  says  he, 
for  it  is  written,  that  all  things  shall  work  together  for  thy  good,  thy 
very  falls  not  excepted  ;  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  concerning 
thee,  and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  thou 
dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone:  the  tempter,  thanks  be  to  Christ,  lost 
the  game  at  that  time,  but  he  did  not  lose  his  card  :  and  it  is  probable 
that  he  will  play  it  round  against  you  all ;  only  with  some  variation. 
Let  me  mention  one  among  a  thousand.  He  promised  our  Lord  that 
God's  angels  should  bear  him  up  in  their  hands,  if  he  threzi)  himself 
down:  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  will  promise  you  greater  things 
still.  Nor  should  I  wonder  if  he  was  bold  enough  to  hint,  that,  when 
you  cast  yourselves  down,  God  himself  shall  bear  ijou  up  in  his  hands, 
yea  in  his  arms  of  everlasting  love.  O  ye  men  of  God,  learn  wisdom 
by  the  fall  of  Adam.  O  ye  anointed  sons  of  the  Most  High,  learn 
watchfulness  by  the  conduct  of  Christ.  If  he  was  afraid  to  tempt  the 
Lord  his  God,  will  ye  dare  to  do  it  ?  If  he  rejected,  as  poison,  the 
hook  of  the  Absolute   Perseverance  of  the   Saints,   though  it   was 

*  We  do  not  hereby  deny,  that  some  believers  have  a  testimony  in  their  own  breasts,  that 
they  shall  not  finally  fall  from  God.  "  They  may  have  it,"  says  Mr.  Wesley  in  the  same 
Tract,  "  and  this  persuasion,  that  neither  life  nor  death  shall  separate  them  from  God,  far 
from  being  hurtful,  may  in  some  circumstances  be  extremely  useful."  But  wherever  this 
testimony  is  divine,  it  is  attended  with  that  grace  which  inseparably  connects  holiness  and 
good  works,  the  means,  with  perseverance  and  etcniul  salvation,  the  end  :  and,  in  (hi» 
respect,  our  doctrine  widely  differs  from  that  of  the  Calvinists,  who  break  the  necessary 
connexion  between  holiness  and  infallible  salvation,  by  making  room  for  the  foulest  falls — 
for  adulti^-y,  murder,  and  incest. 

Vol.   IV.  47 


a70  THE  LAST  CHECK 

l)aited  with  Scripture,  will  ye  swallow  it  down,  as  if  it  were  honey 
out  of  the  Rock  of  ages  ? — No  :  through  faith  in  Christ,  the  Scriptures 
have  made  you  wise  unto  salvation :  you  will  not  only  flee  with  all 
speed  from  evil,  but  from  the  very  appearance  of  evil :  and  when 
you  stand  on  the  brink  of  a  temptation,  far  from  entering  into  it,  under 
any  pretence  whatever,  ye  will  leap  back  into  the  bosom  of  him  who 
says,  Watch  and  pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation;  for  though  the 
spirit  is  willing,  the  flesh  is  weak.  I  grant  that,  evangelically  speakings 
the  weakness  of  the  flesh  is  not  sin  ;  but  yet  the  deceitfulness  of  sin 
creeps  in  at  this  door ;  and  in  this  way  not  a  few  of  God's  children, 
(fter  they  had  escaped  the  pollutions  of  the  world,  through  the  sanctify' 
ing  knowledge  of  Christ,  under  plausible  pretences;,  have  been  entangled 
again  therein  and  overcome.  Let  their  falls  make  you  cautious.  Ye 
have  put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God:  O  keep  it  on,  and  use  it  with 
all  prayer,  that  ye  may  to  the  last,  stand  complete  in  Christ,  and  be 
more  than  conquerors  through  him  that  has  loved  you. 

II.  Remember  that  every  one  who  is  perfect,  shall  be  as  his  Master. 
Now  if  your  Master  was  tempted  and  assaulted  to  the  last; — if,  to  the 
last  he  watched  and  prayed  ;  using  all  the  means  of  grace  himself, 
and  enforcing  the  use  of  them  upon  others ; — if  to  the  last  he  fought 
against  the  world,  the  flesh,  an-J  the  devil,  and  did  not  put  off  the  har- 
ness till  he  had  put  ofi"  the  body  :  think  not  yourselves  above  him  ; 
but  go  and  do  likewise.  If  he  did  not  regain  Paradise  without  going 
through  the  most  complete  renunciation  of  all  the  good  things  of  this 
world,  and  without  meekly  submitting  to  the  severe  stroke  of  hi« 
last  enemy,  death;  be  content  to  be  perfect  as  he  was:  nor  fancy  that 
your  flesh  and  blood  can  inherit  the  celestial  kingdom  of  God,  when 
the  flesh  and  blood  which  Emmanuel  himself  assumed  from  a  pure 
virgin,  could  not  inherit  it  without  passing  under  the  cherub's  flaming 
sword  :  1  mean,  without  going  through  the  gates  of  deaths 

III.  Ye  are  not  complete  in  wisdom.  Perfect  love  does  not  imply 
perfect  knowledge;  but  perfect  humility,  and  perfect  readiness  to 
receive  instruction.  Remember  therefore,  that  if  ever  ye  show,  that 
ye  are  above  being  instructed,  even  by  a  fisherman  who  teaches 
according  to  the  divine  anointing,  ye  will  show  that  ye  are  fallen  from 
a  perfection  of  humility,  into  a  perfection  of  pride. 

IV.  Do  not  confound  angelical,  with  Christian  perfection.  Uninter- 
rupted transports  of  praise,  and  ceaseless  raptures  of  joy,  do  not 
belong  to  Christian,  but  to  angelical  perfection.  Our  feeble  frame 
can  bear  but  a  few  drops  of  that  glorious  cup.  In  general,  that  new 
mne  is  too  strong  for  our  old  bottles :  that  power  is  too  excellent  for 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  371 

our  caHhen^  cracked  vessels ;  but  weak  as  they  are,  they  can  bear  a 
fulness  of  meekness^  of  resignation,  of  humility,  and  of  that  love  which 
is  willing  to  obey  unto  death.  If  God  indulge  you  with  ecstacies,  and 
extraordinary  revelations  ;  be  thankful  for  them  ;  but  be  710/  exalted 
above  measure  by  them  :  take  care  lest  enthusiastic  delusions  mix  them- 
selves with  them  :  and  remember,  that  your  Christian  perfection  does 
not  so  much  consist  in  building  a  tabernacle  upon  mount  Tabor,  to 
rest  and  enjoy  rare  sights  there  ;  as  in  resolutely  taking  up  the  cross, 
and  following  Christ  to  the  palace  of  a  proud  Caiaphas.  to  the  judg- 
ment-hall of  an  unjust  Pilate,  and  to  the  top  of  an  ignominious  Calvary. 
Ye  never  read  in  your  Bibles,  *'  Let  that  glory  be  upon  you,  which 
was  also  upon  St.  Stephen,  when  he  looked  up  steadfastly  into  heaven, 
and  said.  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of  man  standing 
en  the  right  hand  of  God.'^  But  ye  have  frequently  read  there,  Let 
this  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  made  himself  of 
no  reputation,  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  being  found  irt 
fashion  as  a  man,  humbled  himself,  and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even 
the  death  of  the  cross 

See  him  on  that  ignominious  gibbet :  he  hangs — abandoned  by  his 
friends — surrounded  by  his  foes — condemned  by  the  rich — insulted 
by  the  poor ! — He  hangs  ; — a  worm  and  no  man — a  very  scorn  of 
men,  and  the  out-cast  of  the  people !— All  that  see  him  laugh  him  to 
scorn  !  They  shoot  out  their  lips,  and  shake  their  heads,  sayings 
*'  He  trusted  in  God  that  he  would  deliver  him  ;  let  him  deliver  him, 
if  he  will  have  him." — There  is  none  to  help  him  :— one  of  his  apos- 
tles denies,  another  sells  him  ;  and  the  rest  run  away.  Many  oxen 
are  eome  about  him  : — fat  bulls  of  Bashan  close  him  on  every  side  — 
they  gape  upon  him  with  their  mouths,  as  it  were  a  ramping  lion  : — 
he  is  poured  out  like  water — his  heart  in  the  midst  of  his  body  is  like 
melting  wax  : — his  strength  is  dried  up  like  a  potsherd  : — his  tongue 
cleaveth  to  his  gums  : — he  is  going  into  the  dust  of  death  : — many 
dogs  are  come  about  him  : — and  the  counsel  of  the  wicked  layeth 
siege  against  him  : — his  hands  and  feet  are  pierced  : — you  may  tell  all 
his  bones  : — they  stand  staring  and  looking  upon  him  : — they  part  his 
garments  among  them,  and  cast  lots  for  the  only  remain  of  his  property, 
his  plain,  seamless  vesture.  Both  suns,  the  visible  and  the  invisible, 
seem  eclipsed.  No  cheering  beam  of  created  light  gilds  his  gloomy 
prospect.  No  smile  of  his  heavenly  Father  supports  bis  agonizing 
soul !  No  cordial,  unless  it  be  vinegar  and  gall,  revives  his  sinking 
spirits  !  He  has  nothing  left,  except  his  God.  But  his  God  is  enough 
for  him.     In  his  God  he  has  all  things.     And  though  his  soul  is  Pei^^ed 


375  THE    LAST    CHECK 

with  sorrow,  even  unto  death  ;  yet  it  hangs  more  firmly  upon  his  God 
by  a  naked  faith,  than  his  lacerated  body  does  on  the  cross  by  the 
clenched  nails. — The  perfection  of  his  love  shines  in  all  its  Christian 
glory.  He  not  only  forgives  his  insulting  foes  and  bloody  persecu- 
tors ;  but,  in  the  highest  point  of  his  passion,  he  forgets  his  own 
wants,  and  thirsts  after  their  eternal  happiness.  Together  with  his 
blood,  he  pours  out  his  soul  for  them,  and  excusing  them  all  he  says, 
Father^  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do.  O  ye  adult  sons 
of  God,  in  this  glass  behold  all  with  open  face  the  glory  of  your  Re- 
deemer's forgiving,  praying  love ;  and,  as  ye  behold  it,  be  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  by  the  loving  Spirit  of  the 
Lord. 

V.  This  lesson  is  deep ;  but  he  may  teach  you  one  deeper  still. 
By  a  strong  sympathy  with  him  in  all  his  sufferings,  he  may  call  you 
to  know  him  every  way  crucified.  Stern  Juj^tice  thunders  from  heaven,. 
Awake,  O  sword,  agaiiist  the  man  zvho  is  my  fellow  !  The  sword  awakes 
— the  sword  goes  through  his  soul — the  flaming  sword  is  quenched 
in  his  blood.  But  is  one  sinew  of  his  perfect  faith  cut,  one  fibre  of 
his  perfect  resignation  injured,  by  the  astonishing  blow  ?  No  :  his 
God  slays  him,  and  yet  he  trusts  in  his  God.  By  the  noblest  of  all 
ventures,  in  the  most  dreadful  of  all  storms,  he  meekly  bows  his 
head,  and  shelters  his  departing  soul  in  the  bosom  of  his  God. — "  My 
God!  My  God!  says  he,  though  all  my  comforts  have  forsaken  me, 
and  all  thy  storms  and  waves  go  over  me,  yet  into  thy  hands  I  commend 
my  spirit — For  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell ;  neither  wilt  thou 
siiff'er  thy  Holy  One  to  see  corruption.  Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of 
life:  in  thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy,  and  at  thy  right  hand  [where  I 
shall  soon  sit]  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore.^' — What  a  pattern  of 
perfect  confidence  !  O  ye  perfect  Christians,  be  ambitious  to  ascend 
to  those  amazing  heights  of  Christ's  perfection  :  For  even  hereunto  are 
ye  called ;  because  Christ  also  suffered  for  us  :  leaving  us  an  example, 
that  WE  should  follow  his  steps :  who  knew  no  sin,  zvho,  when  he  was 
reviled,  reviled  not  again ;  when  lie  siffered  he  threatened  not,  hut  com- 
mitted himself  to  him  that  judgeth  righteously.  If  this  is  your  high 
calling  on  earth,  rest  not,  O  ye  fathers  in  Christ,  till  your  patient 
hope,  and  perfect  confidence  in  God,  have  got  their  last  victory  over 
your  last  enemy — the  lung  of  terrors. 

*'  The  ground  of  a  thousand  mistakes  [says  Mr.  Wesleij']  is,  the  not 
considering  deeply,  that  love  is  the  highest  gii'i  oi' God,  humble,  gentle, 
patient  love :  that  all  visions,  revelations,  manifestations-whatever,  are 
little  things  compared  to  love, — tt  were  well  you  should  be  thoroughly 


TO    ANTINOMIANISM.  373 

sensible  of  this  :  the  heaven  of  heavens  is  love.  There  is  nothing 
higher  in  religion  :  there  is,  in  effect,  nothing  else.  If  you  look  for 
any  thing  but  more  love,  you  are  looking  wide  of  the  mark,  you  are 
getting  out  of  the  royal  way.  And  when  you  are  asking  others.  Have 
you  received  this  or  that  blessing  ?  If  you  mean  any  thing  but  more 
love,  you  mean  wrong  ;  you  are  leading  them  out  of  the  way,  and 
putting  them  upon  a  false  scent.  Settle  it  then  in  your  heart,  that 
from  the  moment  God  has  saved  you  from  all  sin,  you  arc  to  aim  at 
nothing  but  more  of  that  love  described  in  the  thirteenth  of  the 
Corinthians.  You  can  go  no  higher  than  this,  till  you  are  carried  into 
Abraham's  bosom." 

VI.  Love  is  humble.  "  5e  therefore  clothed  with  humility,''  says 
Mr.  Wesley :  "  Let  it  not  only  fill,  but  cover  you  all  over.  Let 
modesty  and  self-diffidence  appear  in  all  your  words  and  actions.  Let 
all  you  speak  and  do  show  that  you  are  little,  and  base,  and  mean, 
and  vile  in  your  own  eyes.  As  one  instance  of  this,  be  always  ready 
to  own  any  fault  you  have  been  in.  If  you  have  at  any  time  thought, 
spoke,  or  acted  wrong,  be  not  backward  to  acknowledge  it.  Never 
dream  that  this  will  hurt  the  cause  of  God  :  no,  it  will  further  it.  Be 
therefore  open  and  frank,  when  you  are  taxed  with  any  thing  :  let  it 
appear  just  as  it  is  :  and  you  will  thereby  not  hinder  but  adorn  the 
Gospel." — Why  should  ye  be  more  backward  in  acknowledging  y<Mf 
failings  than  in  confessing  that  ye  do  not  pretend  to  infallibility.  St. 
Paul  was  perfect  in  the  love  which  casts  out  fear,  and  therefore  he 
boldly  reproved  the  high-priest  :  but,  when  he  had  reproved  him 
more  sharply  than  the  fifth  commandment  allows,  he  directly  con- 
fessed his  mistake,  and  set  his  seal  to  the  importance  of  the  duty  in 
which  he  had  been  inadvertently  wanting.  Then  Paul  said,  ''  1  knew 
not,  brethren,  that  he  was  the  high-priest:  for  it  is  written,  Thou 
sbalt  not  speak  evil  of  the  ruler  of  thy  people."  St.  John  was  perfect 
in  the  courteous,  humble  love,  which  brings  us  down  at  the  feet  of 
all.  His  courtesy,  his  humility,  and  the  dazzling  glory,  which  beamed 
forth  from  a  divine  messenger  [whom  he  apprehended  to  be  more 
than  a  creature]  betrayed  him  into  a  fault  contrary  to  that  of  St. 
Paul  ;  but  far  from  concealing  it,  he  openly  confessed  it,  and  pub- 
lished his  confession  for  the  edification  of  all  the  churches.  When  1 
had  heard  and  seen,  says  he,  I  fell  dow7i  to  rvorship  before  the  feet  of  the 
angel  -who  showed  me  these  things.  Then  saith  he  unto  me.  See  thou  do  it 
not,  for  I  am  thy  fellow- servant.  Christian  perfection  shines  as  much 
in  the  childlike  simplicity  with  which  the  perfect  readily  acknow- 


374  THE   LAST   CHECK 

ledge  their  faults,  as  it  does  in  the  manly  steadiness  with  which  they 
resist  unto  blood,  striving  against  sin. 

VII.  If  humble  love  makes  us  frankly  confess  our  faults,  much 
more  does  it  incline  us  to  own  ourselves  sinners— miserable 
sinners  before  that  God  whom  we  have  so  frequently  offended, 
I  need  not  remind  you,  that  your  bodies  are  dead  because  of  sin.  You 
see,  you  feel  it,  and  therefore,  so  long  as  you  dwell  in  a  prison  of 
flesh  and  blood,  which  death,  the  avenger  of  sin,  is  to  pull  down  ; — so 
long  as  your  final  justification,  as  pardoned  and  sanctified  sinners,  has 
not  taken  place  : — Yea,  so  long  as  you  break  the  law  of  paradisiacal 
perfection,  under  which  you  were  originally  placed,  it  is  meet,  right, 
and  your  bounden  duty,  to  consider  yourselves  as  sinners,  who,  as 
transgressors  of  the  law  of  innocence  and  the  law  of  liberty,  are 
guilty  of  death — of  eternal  death.  St.  Paul  did  so  after  he  was 
come  to  viount  Sion,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.  He 
still  looked  upon  himself  as  the  chief  of  sinners,  because  he  had 
been  a  daring  blasphemer  of  Christ,  and  a  fierce  persecutor  of  his 
people.  Christ,  says  he,  came  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief 
The  reason  is  plain.  Matter  of  fact  is,  and  will  be  matter  of  fact  to 
all  eternity.  According  to  the  doctrines  of  Grace  and  Justice,  and 
before  the  throne  of  God's  mercy  and  holiness,  a  sinner  pardoned 
*Ai  sanctified,  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  be  considered  as  a 
sinner;  for  if  you  consider  him  as  a  saint  absolutely  abstracted  from 
the  character  of  a  sinner,  how  can  he  be  a  pardoned  and  sanctified 
sinner  ?  To  all  eternity  therefore,  but  much  more  while  death  [the 
wages  of  sin]  is  at  your  heels,  and  while  ye  are  going  to  appear  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  to  receive  your  final  sentence  of  absolution 
or  condemnation  ;  it  will  become  you  to  say  with  St.  Paul,  IVe  have 
all  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God ;  being  justified  freely 
[as  sinners]  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Jesus  Christ— 
although  we  are  justified  judicially  as  believers,  through  faith : — as 
obedient  believers,  through  the  obedience  of  faith ;  and  as  perfect 
Christians,  through  Christian  perfection. 

VIII.  Humble  love  becomes  all  things  [but  sin]  to  all  men,  although 
it  delights  most  in  those  who  are  most  holy.  Ye  may,  and  ought  to 
set  your  love  of  peculiar  complacence  upon  God's  dearest  children— 
upon  those  who  excel  in  virtue ;  because  they  more  strongly  reflect 
the  image  of  the  God  of  love,  the  Holy  'One  of  Israel.  But,  if  ye 
despise  the  weak,  and  are  above  lending  them  a  helping  hand ;  ye 
are  fallen  from  Christian  perfection,  which  teaches  us  to  bear  one 
'Tnolhf.r'*^  burdens,  especially  the  burdens  of  the  weak.     Imitate  thei* 


TO  ANTlNOMIANISil.  375 

the  tenderness  and  wisdom  of  the  good  Shepherd,  who  carries  the 
lambs  in  his  bosom,  gently  leads  the  sheep  which  are  big  with  youngs 
feeds  with  milk  those  who  cannot  bear  strong  meat,  and  says  to  his 
imperfect  disciples,  I  have  many  things  to  say  to  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear 
them  now.  ^ 

IX.  IVhere  the  loving  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty.  Keep 
therefore  at  the  utmost  distance  from  the  shackles  of  a  narrow,  pre- 
judiced, bigoted  spirit.  The  moment  ye  confine  your  love  to  the 
people  who  think  just  as  you  do,  and  your  regard  to  the  preachers 
who  exactly  suit  your  taste,  you  fall  from  perfection,  and  turn  bigots. 
*'  I  entreat  you,  [says  Mr.  Wesley  in  his  Plain  Account]  beware  of 
bigotry.  Let  not  your  love  or  beneficence  be  confined  to  Methodists 
(so  called)  only  :  much  less  to  that  very  small  part  of  them  who  seem 
to  be  renewed  in  love  :  or  to  those  who  believe  your's  and  their 
report.  O  make  not  this  your  Shibboleth.''' — On  the  contrary,  as  yc 
have  time  and  ability,  do  good  to  all  men.  Let  your  benevolence 
shine  upon  all :  let  your  charily  send  its  cherishing  beams  toward^ 
all,  in  proper  degrees.  So  shall  ye  be  perfect  as  your  heavenly  Father, 
who  makes  his  sun  to  shine  upon  all ;  although  he  sends  the  brightest 
and  warmest  beams  of  his  favour  upon  the  household  of  faithy  and 
reserves  his  richest  bounties  for  those  who  lay  out  their  five  talents 
to  the  best  advantage. 

X.  Love,  pure  love,  is  satisfied  with  the  supreme  Good — with  God. 
♦*  Beware  then  of  desiring  any  thing  but  him.  Now  you  desire 
nothing  else.  Every  other  desire  is  driven  out :  see  that  none  enter 
in  again.  Keep  thyself  pure  :  let  your  eye  remain  single,  and  your  whole 
body  shall  remain  full  of  light.  Admit  no  desire  of  pleasing  food,  or 
any  other  pleasure  of  sense  ;  no  desire  of  pleasing  the  eye  or  the 
imagination  :  no  desire  of  money,  of  praise,  or  esteem  :  of  happiness 
in  any  creature.  You  may  bring  these  desires  back  ;  but  you  need 
not ;  you  may  feel  them  no  more.  0  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  wherc- 
mth  Christ  hath  made  you  free.  Be  patterns  to  all  of  denying  your- 
selves, and  taking  up  your  cross  daily.  Let  them  see  that  you  make 
no  account  of  any  pleasure  which  does  not  bring  you  nearer  to  God  ; 
nor  regard  any  pain  which  does  :  that  you  simply  aim  at  pleasing  him, 
whether  by  doing  or  suffering :  that  the  constant  language  of  your 
heart,  with  regard  to  pleasure  or  pain,  honour  or  dishonour,  or 
poverty,  is, 

"  All's  alike  to  me,  so  I 
In  my  Lord  may  live  aad  die  I" 


376  THE  LAST  CHECK 

Xf .  I'he  best  soldiers  are  sent  upon  the  most  difl5cult  and  danger- 
ous expeditions  :  and  as  you  are  the  best  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  ye 
will  probably  be  called  to  drink  deepest  of  his  cup,  and  to  carry  the 
heaviest  burdens.  "  Expect  contradiction  and  opposition,"  says  the 
judicious  divine,  whom  I  have  just  quoted,  "together  with  crosses  of 
various  kinds.  Consider  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  To  you  it  is  given  in 
behalf  of  Christy  for  his  sake,  as  a  fruit  of  his  death  and  intercession 
for  you,  not  only  to  believe^  but  also  to  suffer  for  his  sake,  Phil.  i.  23. 
It  is  given.  God  gives  you  this  opposition  or  reproach  :  it  is  a  fresh 
token  of  his  love.  And  will  you  disown  the  giver  t  Or  spurn  his 
gift,  and  count  it  a  misfortune  ?  Will  you  not  rather  say,  *  Father, 
the  hour  is  come  that  thou  shouldst  be  glorified.  Now  thou  givest 
thy  child  to  suffer  something  for  thee.  Do  with  me  according  to  thy 
will.'  Know  that  these  things,  far  from  being  hinderances  to  the  work 
of  God,  or  to  your  soul,  unless  by  your  own  fault,  are  not  only 
unavoidable  in  the  course  of  providence,  but  profitable,  yea,  neces- 
sary for  you.  Therefore  receive  them  from  God  (not  from  chance) 
with  willingness,  and  thankfulness.  Receive  them  from  men  with 
humility,  meekness,  yieldingneSs,  gentleness,  sweetness." 

Love  can  never  do,  nor  suffer  too  much  for  its  divine  object.  Be 
then  ambitious,  like  St.  Paul,  to  be  made  perfect  in  sufferings.  1  have 
already  observed  that  the  apostle,  not  satisfied  to  be  a  perfect  Chris- 
tian, would  also  be  a  perfect  martyr ;  earnestly  desiring  to  know  the 
fellowship  of  Oirisfs  sufferings.  Follow  him,  as  he  followed  his  suf- 
fering, crucified  Lord.  Your  feet  are  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the 
Gospel  of  peace,  run  after  them  both  in  the  race  of  obedience,  for  the 
crown  of  martyrdom,  if  that  crown  is  reserved  for  you.  And  if  ye 
miss  the  crown  of  those  who  are  martyrs  in  deed,  ye  shall  however 
receive  the  reward  of  those  who  are  martyrs  in  intention — the  crown 
of  righteousness  and  angelical  perfection. 

XII.  But  do  not  so  desire  to  follow  Christ  to  the  garden  of  Gethse- 
mane,  as  to  refuse  to  follow  him  now  to  the  carpenter's  shop,  if  Pro- 
vidence now  call  you  to  it.  Do  not  lose  the  present  day  by  idly 
looking  back,  at  yesterday,  or  foolishly  antedating  the  cares  of  to-mor- 
row :  but  wisely  use  every  hour ;  spending  it  as  one  who  stands  on 
the  verge  of  time — on  the  border  of  eternity,  and  who  has  his  work 
cut  out  by  a  wise  Providence  from  moment  to  moment.  Never  there- 
fore neglect  using  the  two  talents  you  have  now,  and  doing  the  duty 
which  is  now  incumbent  upon  you.  Should  ye  be  tempted  to  it, 
under  the  plausible  pretence  of  waiting  for  a  greater  number  of 
talents  ;  remember  that  God  doubles  our  talents  in  the  way  of  duty,  and 


TO   ANTINOMIANISM.  377 

that  it  is  a  maxim  advanced  by  Elisha  Coles  himself,  use  grace  and 
have  [more]  grace.  Therefore,  "  to  continual  fvatrhful  ess  and 
prayer,  add  continual  employmcDt,  8ays  Mr  Wesley,  for  grace  flies  a 
racuum  as  well  as  nature  :  the  devil  fills  whatever  God  does  not  fill." 
— "  As  by  works  faith  is  made  perfect,  so  the  completing  or  destroying 
of  the  work  of  faith,  and  enjoying  the  favour,  or  suffering  the  dis- 
pleasure of  God,  greatly  depend  on  every  single  act  of  obedience." — 
If  you  forget  this,  you  will  hardly  do  now  whatsoever  your  hand 
findeth  to  do.  Much  less  will  you  do  it  with  all  your  might — for  God 
— for  eternity. 

XIII.  Love  is  modest :  it  rather  inclines  to  bashfulness  and  silence, 
than  to  talkative  forwardness.  In  a  multitude  of  words  there  wanteth 
fwt  sin  ;  be  therefore  »lorio  to  speak ;  nor  cast  your  pearls  before  those 
who  cannot  distinguish  them  from  pebbles.  Nevertheless,  when  you 
are  solemnly  called  upon  to  bear  testimony  to  the  truth,  and  to  say 
what  great  things  God  has  done  for  you ;  it  would  be  rowardire  or 
false  prudence  not  to  do  it  with  humility.  Be  then  always  ready  to 
give  an  answer  to  every  man  who  [properly]  asketh  you  a  reason  of 
the  hope  that  is  in  you,  with  meekness,  [without  fluttering  anxiety]  and 
with  fear  [with  a  reverential  awe  of  God  upon  your  minds]  1  Pet.  iii. 
16.  Perfect  Christians  are  burning  and  shining  lights,  and  our  Lord 
intimates,  that,  as  o  candle  is  not  lighted  to  be  put  under  a  bushel,  but 
upon  a  candlesticky  that  it  may  give  light  to  all  the  house :  so  God  does 
not  light  the  candle  of  perfect  love  to  hide  it  in  a  corner,  but  to  give 
light  to  all  those  who  are  within  the  reach  of  its  brightness.  If  dia- 
monds glitter,  if  stars  shine,  if  flowers  display  their  colours,  and  per- 
fumes  diffuse  their  fragrance,  to  the  honour  of  the  Father  of  lights, 
and  Author  of  every  good  gift :  if,  without  self-seeking,  they  disclose 
his  glory  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  why  should  ye  not  go,  and  do 
likewise  ?  Gold  answers  its  most  valuable  end  when  it  is  brought  to 
light,  and  made  to  circulate  for  charitable  and  pious  uses ;  and  not 
when  it  lies  concealed  in  a  miser's  strong  box,  or  in  the  dark  bosom 
of  a  mine.  But  when  you  lay  out  your  spiritual  gold  for  proper 
uses,  beware  of  imitating  the  vanity  of  those  coxcombs,  who,  as  often 
as  they  are  about  to  pay  for  a  trifle,  pull  out  a  handful  of  gold,  merely 
to  make  a  show  of  their  wealth. 

XIV.  Love  or  charity  rejoiceth  in  the  [display  of  an  edifying]  truth. 
Fact  is  fact  all  the  world  over.  If  you  can  say  to  the  glory  of  God, 
that  you  are  alive ^  and  feel  very  well,  when  it  is  so  ;  why  should  you 
not  also  testify  to  his  honour,  that  you  live  not,  but  that  Christ  liveth 
in  you ;  if  you  really  find  that  this  is  your  experience  ?    Did  not  St. 

Vol.  IV.  48 


;3.78  THE   iAST    CHECK 

John  say,  Our  love  is  made  perfect — because  as  he  is,  so  are  we  in  this 
world!  Did  not  St.  Paul  write,  The  righteousness  of  the  law  is  fuU 
filled  in  us  who  walk  after  the  Spirit?  Did  he  not  with  the  same 
simplicity  aver,  that  although  he  had  nothings  and  was  sorrowful^  yet 
he  possessed  all  things,  and  was  always  rejoicing  ? 

Hence  it  appears,  that  with  respect  to  the  declaring  or  concealing 
what  God  has  done  for  your  soul,  the  line  of  your  duty  runs  exactly 
between  the  proud  forwardness  of  some  stiflf  Pharisees,  and  the  volun- 
tary humility  of  some  stiff  mystics.  The  former  vainly  boast  of  more 
than  they  experience,  and  thus  set  up  the  cursed  idol,  self:  the  lat- 
ter ungratefully  hide  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  which  the  primi- 
tire  Christians  spoke  of  publicly  in  a  variety  of  languages  ;  and  so 
refuse  to  exalt  their  gracious  Benefactor,  Chr^'^f-  The  first  error  is 
undoubtedly  more  odious  than  the  second  ;  but,  what  need  is  there 
of  leaning  to  either  ?  Would  ye  avoid  them  both  ?  Let  your  tempers 
and  lives  always  declare,  that  perfect  love  is  attainable  in  this  life. 
And  when  you  have  a  proper  call  to  declare  it  wKh  your  lips  and 
pens,  do  it  without  forwardness,  to  the  glory  of  God  ;  do  it  with  sim- 
plicity, for  the  edification  of  your  neighbour ;  do  it  with  godly 
jealousy,  lest  ye  should  show  the  trpasures  of  divine  grace  in  your 
hearts,  with  the  same  self-complacence  with  which  king  Hezekiah 
showed  his  treasures,  and  the  golden  vessels  of  the  temple,  to  the 
ambassadors  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  remembering  what  a  dreadful 
curse  this  piece  of  vanity  pulled  down  upon  him  :  and  Isaiah  said 
unto  Hezekiah,  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord,  Behold,  the  days  come,  that 
all  that  is  in  thine  house  shall  be  carried  into  Babylon :  nothing  shall  be 
left,  saith  the  Lord.  If  God  so  severely  punished  Hezekiah's  pride, 
how  properly  does  St.  Peter  charge  believers  to  give  with  fear  an 
account  of  the  grace  which  is  in  them!  and  how  careful  should  ye  be  to 
observe  this  important  charge  I 

XV.  If  you  will  keep  at  the  utmost  distance  from  the  vanity  which 
proved  so  fatal  to  good  king  Hezekiah,  follow  an  excellent  direction  of 
Mr.  Wesley.  When  you  have  done  any  thing  for  God,  or  received  any 
favour  from  him,  retire,  if  not  into  your  closet,  into  your  heart,  and 
say,  *'  I  come.  Lord  to  restore  to  thee  what  thou  hast  given,  and  I 
freely  relinquish  it,  to  enter  again  into  my  own  nothingness.  For 
what  is  the  most  perfect  creature  in  heaven  or  earth  in  thy  pre- 
sence, but  a  void,  capable  of  being  filled  with  thee  and  by  thee,  as 
the  air  which  is  void  and  dark,  is  capable  of  being  filled  with  the 
light  of  the  sun  ?  Grant  therefore,  O  Lord,  that  I  may  never  appro^ 
priate  thy  grace  to  myself,  any  more  than  the  air  appropriates  ts 


TO  AWTINOMIANISM.  379 

itself  the  light  of  the  sun,  which  withdraws  it  every  day  to  restore  it 
the  next ;  there  being  nothing  in  the  air  that  either  appropriates  his 
light  or  resists  it.  O  give  me  the  same  facility  of  receiving  and 
restoring  thy  grace  and  good  works !  I  say  ihiney  for  1  acknowledge 
that  the  root  from  which  they  spring,  is  in  thee  and  not  in  me." — 
"  The  true  means  to  be  filled  anew  with  the  riches  of  grace,  is 
thus  to  strip  ourselves  of  it :  without  this  it  is  extremely  difficult  not 
to  faint  in  the  practice  of  good  works." — *'  And-therefore,  that  your 
good  works  may  receive  their  last  perfection,  let  them  lose  them- 
selves in  God.  This  is  a  kind  of  death  to  them,  resembling  that  of 
our  bodies,  which  will  not  attain  their  highest  life,  their  immortality, 
till  they  lose  themselves  in  the  glory  of  our  souls,  or  rather  of  God 
wherewith  they  shall  be  filled.  And  it  is  only  what  they  had 
of  earthly  and  mortal,  which  good  works  lose  by  this  spiritual 
death." 

XVI.  Would  ye  see  this  deep  precept  put  in  practice  ?  Consider 
St.  Paul.  Already  possessed  of  Christian  perfection,  he  does  good 
works  from  morning  till  night :  he  warns  every  one  night  and  day 
with  tears.  He  carries  the  Gospel  from  east  to  west.  Wherever 
he  stops,  he  plants  axhurch  at  the  hazard  of  his  life.  But  instead  of 
resting  in  his  present  perfection,  and  in  the  good  works  which  spring 
from  it,  he  grows  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;  unweariedly  following  after,  if  that  he  may  apprehend  that 
[perfection] /or  which  also  he  is  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus, — that 
celestial  perfection,  of  which  he  got  lively  ideas  when  he  was  caught 
up  to  the  third  heaven,  and  heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not 
possible  for  a  man  to  utter.  With  what  amazing  ardour  does  he  run 
his  race  of  Christian  perfection  for  the  prize  of  that  higher  perfec- 
tion !  How  does  be  forget  the  works  of  yesterday,  when  he  lays 
himself  out  for  God  to-day!  Though  dead,  he  yet  speaketh,  nor  can 
an  address  lo  perfect  Christians  be  closed  by  a  more  proper  speech 
than  his.  Brethren,  says  he,  Be  folloroip.rs  of  me. — I  count  not  myself  to 
have  apprehended  [my  evangelical  perfection  :]  hut  this  one  thing  I  do, 
forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  [settling  in  none  of  my  former 
experiences,  resting  in  none  of  my  good  works,]  and  reaching  forth 
unto  those  things  which  are  before,  I  press  towards  the  mark  for  the 
[celestial]  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Let  us 
therefore,  as  many  as  are  perfect,  be  thus  minded :  and  if  in  any  thing 
ye  be  otherwise  minded,  God  shall  reveal  even  this  unto  you.  In  the 
mean  time  you  may  sing  the  following  hymn  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Charles 
Wesley,  which  is  descriptive  of  the  destruction  of  corrupt  self-will. 


380  THE   LAST   CHECK 

and  expressive  of  the  absolute  resignatioD  which  characterizes  a 
perfect  behever. 

To  do,  or  not  to  do ;  to  have, 

Or  not  to  have,  I  leave  to  Thee  7 
To  be,  or  nort  to  be,  I  leave ; 

Thy  only  will  be  done  in  me  ; 
All  ray  requests  are  lost  in  one. 
Father,  thy  only  will  be  done  ! 

Suffice,  that  for  the  season  past, 

Myself  in  things  divine  I  sought; 
For  comforts  cried  with  eager  baste, 

And  murmurM  that  I  found  them  not ; 
I  leave  it  liow  to  thee  alone. 
Father,  thy  only  will  be  done ! 

Thy  gifts  I  clamour  for  no  more, 

Or  selfishly  thy  grace  require. 
An  evil  heart  to  varnish  o'er ; 

Jesaa  the  Giver  I  desire  ; 
After  the  flesh  no  longer  known  ^ 
Father,  thy  only  will  be  done  ! 

Welcome  alike  the  crown  or  cross, 

Trouble  I  cannot  ask,  nor  peace, 
Nor  toil,  nor  rest,  nor  gain,  nor  loss, 

Nor  joy,  nor  grief,  nor  pain  nor  ease, 
Nor  life,  nor  death ;  but  ever  groan, 
Father,  thy  only  will  be  done  ! 

This  hymn  suits  all  the  believers  who  are  at  the  bottom  of  mount 
Sion,  and  begin  to  join  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.  But 
when  the  triumphal  chariot  of  perfect  love  gloriously  carries  you  to 
the  top  of  perfection's  hill ;  when  you  are  raised  far  above  the  com- 
mon  heights  of  the  perfect — when  you  are  almost  translated  into 
glory  like  Elijah,  then  you  may  sing  another  hymn  of  the  same  Chris- 
tian poet  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Madan,  and  the  numerous  body  of  Im- 
perfectionists  who  use  his  collection  of  Pealme,  &C. 

Who  in  Jesus  confide. 

They  are  bold  to  outride 
All  the  storms  of  aflaictnon  beneath  ° 

With  the  prophet  they  soar 

To  that  heavenly  shore. 
And  out-fly  all  the  arrows  of  death. 

By  faith  we  are  come 
To  our  permanent  home ; 
\nd  by  hope  we  the  rapture  improve ; 


TO  ANTINOMIANISM.  311 

By  love  we  $tiU  rise. 
And  look  down  on  the  skies — 
For  the  heaveo  of  heavens  is  love  ! 

Who  on  earth  can  conceive 

How  happy  we  live 
In  the  city  of  God  the  great  King  ? 

What  a  concert  of  praise, 

When  our  Jesus's  grace 
The  whole  heavenly  company  sing  ! 

What  a  rapturous  song. 

When  the  glorified  throng 
In  the  spirit  of  harmony  join  ! 

Join  all  the  glad  choirs, 

Hearts,  voices,  and  lyres, 
And  the  burden  is  mercy  divine  ! 

But  when  you  cannot  follow  Mr.  Madan,  and  the  Imperfectionista 
of  the  Lock  Chapel,  to  those  rapturous  heights  of  perfection,  you 
need  not  give  up  your  shield.  You  may  still  rank  among  the  per- 
fect, if  you  can  heartily  join  in  this  Tersion  of  Psalm  cxxxi. 

• 

Lord,  thou  dost  the  gprace  impart ! 
Poor  in  spirit,  meek  in  heart, 
I  shall  as  my  Master  be 
Rooted  in  humility. 

Now,  dear  Lord,  that  thee  I  know, 
Nothing  will  I  seek  below. 
Aim  at  nothing  great  or  high, 
Lowly  both  in  heart  and  eye. 

Simple,  teachable,  and  mild, 
Aw'd  into  a  little  child, 
Quiet  now  without  my  food, 
Wean'd  from  every  creature  good. 

Hangs  my  new-born  soul  on  thee, 
Kept  from  all  idolatry ; 
Nothing  wants  beneath,  above, 
Resting  in  thy  perfect  love. 

That  your  earthen  vessels  may  be  filled  with  this  love  till  they 
break,  and  you  enjoy  the  divine  object  of  your  faith  without  an  inter- 
posing veil  of  gross  flesh  and  blood,  is  the  wish  of  one  who  sincerely 
praises  God  on  your  account,  and  ardently  prays, 

"  Make  up  thy  jewels,  Lord,  and  show 
The  glorious,  spotless  Church  bplow 


382  THE   LAST   CHECK,   kc. 

The  fellowship  of  saints  make  known; 
And  O,  my  God,  might  I  be  one ! 

O  might  my  lot  be  cast  with  these. 
The  least  of  Jesu's  witnesses  ! 
O  that  my  Lord  would  count  me  meet 
To  wash  his  dear  disciples'  feet  I 

To  wait  upon  his  saints  below ! 
On  pospel  errands  for  them  go ! 
Enjoy  the  grace  to  angels  given ; 
And  serve  the  royal  heirs  of  heaven ! 


END  OF   VOL.   It 


*.^ 


*>r 


u 


